Bill Text: TX HB4249 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

Texas House Bill 4249

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating to a law enforcement agency's use of deadly force by means of a drone.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-21 - Referred to Homeland Security & Public Safety [HB4249 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB4249-Introduced.html

	88R14137 JRR-D

	By: Morales of Maverick	H.B. No. 4249



	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to a law enforcement agency's use of deadly force by means
	of a drone.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Section 9.54, Penal Code, is amended by amending
	Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
	(b) Notwithstanding any other law and subject to Subsection
	(c), the use of force, including deadly force, involving a drone is
	justified under this subchapter only if:
	(1) at the time the use of force occurred, the actor
	was employed by a law enforcement agency;
	(2) the use of force:
	(A) would have been justified under another
	provision of this subchapter; and
	(B) did not involve the use of deadly force by
	means of an autonomous drone; and
	(3) before the use of force occurred, the law
	enforcement agency employing the actor adopted and submitted to the
	Texas Commission on Law Enforcement a policy on the agency's use of
	force by means of a drone, as required by Article 2.33, Code of
	Criminal Procedure, and the use of force conformed to the
	requirements of that policy.
	(c) The use of deadly force involving a drone is justified
	under Subsection (b) only if:
	(1) the actor reasonably believes that the use of
	deadly force by means of a drone is necessary to protect the actor
	or another from an imminent threat of death or serious bodily
	injury; and
	(2) before the actor's use of deadly force occurred,
	the head of the law enforcement agency employing the actor, on a
	case-by-case basis, specifically approved the actor's use of deadly
	force by means of a drone.
	SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
	to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
	An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
	governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
	and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
	purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
	effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
	before that date.
	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.