Texas PROSTITUTION LAWS

Texas Prostitution Laws | Chapter 43

Sec. 43.01. DEFINITIONS.

(1) “Access software provider” means a provider of software, including client or server software, or enabling tools that perform one or more of the following functions:

(A) filter, screen, allow, or disallow content;

(B) select, analyze, or digest content; or

(1-a) “Deviate sexual intercourse” means any contact between the genitals of one person and the mouth or anus of another person.

(1-b) “Fee” means the payment or offer of payment in the form of money, goods, services, or other benefit.

(1-c) “Information content provider” means any person or entity that is wholly or partly responsible for the creation or development of information provided through the Internet or any other interactive computer service.

(1-d) “Interactive computer service” means any information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access to a computer server by multiple users, including a service or system that provides access to the Internet or a system operated or service offered by a library or educational institution.

(1-e) “Internet” means the international computer network of both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks.

(1-f) “Premises” has the meaning assigned by Section 481.134, Health and Safety Code.

(2) “Prostitution” means the offense defined in Section 43.02.

(2-a) “School” means a public or private primary or secondary school.

(3) “Sexual contact” means any touching of the anus, breast, or any part of the genitals of another person with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.

(4) “Sexual conduct” includes deviate sexual intercourse, sexual contact, and sexual intercourse.

(5) “Sexual intercourse” means any penetration of the female sex organ by the male sex organ.

(6) “Solicitation of prostitution” means the offense defined in Section 43.021.

Sec. 43.02. PROSTITUTION.

(a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly offers or agrees to receive a fee from another to engage in sexual conduct.

(1) a Class A misdemeanor if the actor has previously been convicted one or two times of an offense under Subsection (a); or

(2) a state jail felony if the actor has previously been convicted three or more times of an offense under Subsection (a).

(c-2) The punishment prescribed for an offense under Subsection (b) is increased to the punishment prescribed for the next highest category of offense if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the actor committed the offense in a location that was:

(1) on the premises of or within 1,000 feet of the premises of a school; or

(2) on premises or within 1,000 feet of premises where:

(A) an official school function was taking place; or

(B) an event sponsored or sanctioned by the University Interscholastic League was taking place.

(d) It is a defense to prosecution for an offense under Subsection (a) that the actor engaged in the conduct that constitutes the offense because the actor was the victim of conduct that constitutes an offense under Section 20A.02 or 43.05.

(e) A conviction may be used for purposes of enhancement under this section or enhancement under Subchapter D, Chapter 12, but not under both this section and Subchapter D, Chapter 12. For purposes of enhancement of penalties under this section or Subchapter D, Chapter 12, a defendant is previously convicted of an offense under this section if the defendant was adjudged guilty of the offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for a grant of deferred adjudication, regardless of whether the sentence for the offense was ever imposed or whether the sentence was probated and the defendant was subsequently discharged from community supervision.

Sec. 43.021. SOLICITATION OF PROSTITUTION.

(a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly offers or agrees to pay a fee to another person for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct with that person or another.

(b) An offense under Subsection (a) is a state jail felony, except that the offense is:

(1) a felony of the third degree if the actor has previously been convicted of an offense under Subsection (a) or under Section 43.02(b), as that law existed before September 1, 2021; or

(2) a felony of the second degree if the person with whom the actor agrees to engage in sexual conduct is:

(A) younger than 18 years of age, regardless of whether the actor knows the age of the person at the time of the offense;

(B) represented to the actor as being younger than 18 years of age; or

(c) A conviction may be used for purposes of enhancement under this section or enhancement under Subchapter D, Chapter 12, but not under both this section and that subchapter. For purposes of enhancement of penalties under this section or Subchapter D, Chapter 12, a defendant is considered to have been previously convicted of an offense under this section or under Section 43.02(b), as that law existed before September 1, 2021, if the defendant was adjudged guilty of the offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for a grant of deferred adjudication, regardless of whether the sentence for the offense was ever imposed or whether the sentence was probated and the defendant was subsequently discharged from community supervision.

Sec. 43.03. PROMOTION OF PROSTITUTION.

(a) A person commits an offense if, acting other than as a prostitute receiving compensation for personally rendered prostitution services, he or she knowingly:

(1) receives money or other property pursuant to an agreement to participate in the proceeds of prostitution; or

(2) solicits another to engage in sexual conduct with another person for compensation.

(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree, except that the offense is:

(1) a felony of the second degree if the actor has been previously convicted of an offense under this section; or

(2) a felony of the first degree if the actor engages in conduct described by Subsection (a)(1) or (2) involving a person younger than 18 years of age engaging in prostitution, regardless of whether the actor knows the age of the person at the time of the offense.

Sec. 43.031. ONLINE PROMOTION OF PROSTITUTION.

(a) A person commits an offense if the person owns, manages, or operates an interactive computer service or information content provider, or operates as an information content provider, with the intent to promote the prostitution of another person or facilitate another person to engage in prostitution or solicitation of prostitution.

(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree, except that the offense is a felony of the second degree if the actor:

(1) has been previously convicted of an offense under this section or Section 43.041; or

(2) engages in conduct described by Subsection (a) involving a person younger than 18 years of age engaging in prostitution, regardless of whether the actor knows the age of the person at the time of the offense.

Sec. 43.04. AGGRAVATED PROMOTION OF PROSTITUTION.

(a) A person commits an offense if he knowingly owns, invests in, finances, controls, supervises, or manages a prostitution enterprise that uses two or more prostitutes.

(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the first degree.

Sec. 43.041. AGGRAVATED ONLINE PROMOTION OF PROSTITUTION.

(a) A person commits an offense if the person owns, manages, or operates an interactive computer service or information content provider, or operates as an information content provider, with the intent to promote the prostitution of five or more persons or facilitate five or more persons to engage in prostitution or solicitation of prostitution.

(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the second degree, except that the offense is a felony of the first degree if the actor:

(1) has been previously convicted of an offense under this section; or

(2) engages in conduct described by Subsection (a) involving two or more persons younger than 18 years of age engaging in prostitution, regardless of whether the actor knows the age of the persons at the time of the offense.

Sec. 43.05. COMPELLING PROSTITUTION.

(a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly:

(1) causes another by force, threat, coercion, or fraud to commit prostitution; or

(2) causes by any means a child younger than 18 years to commit prostitution, regardless of whether the actor knows the age of the child at the time of the offense.

(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the first degree.

(c) If conduct constituting an offense under this section also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the actor may be prosecuted under either section or under both sections.

(d) For purposes of this section, “coercion” as defined by Section 1.07 includes:

(1) destroying, concealing, confiscating, or withholding from a person, or threatening to destroy, conceal, confiscate, or withhold from a person, the person’s actual or purported:

(A) government records; or

(B) identifying information or documents;

(2) causing a person, without the person’s consent, to become intoxicated, as defined by Section 49.01, to a degree that impairs the person’s ability to appraise the nature of the person’s conduct that constitutes prostitution or to resist engaging in that conduct; or

(3) withholding alcohol or a controlled substance to a degree that impairs the ability of a person with a chemical dependency, as defined by Section 462.001, Health and Safety Code, to appraise the nature of the person’s conduct that constitutes prostitution or to resist engaging in that conduct.