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Legal Information: Texas

Statutes: Texas

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Updated: 
February 29, 2024

§ 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 .
 

(b) Redesignated as Penal Code § 43.021(a) by Acts 2021, 87th Leg., ch. 807 (H.B. 1540), § 29.
 

(b-1) Repealed by Acts 2017, 85th Leg., ch. 685 (H.B. 29), § 44(2).
 

(c) An offense under Subsection (a) is a Class B misdemeanor, except that the offense is:
 

(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-1) Redesignated as Penal Code § 43.021(b) by Acts 2021, 87th Leg., ch. 807 (H.B. 1540), § 29.
 

(c-2) Redesignated as Penal Code § 43.021(b-1) by Acts 2023, 88th Leg., ch. 93 (S.B. 1527), § 2.04, and Acts 2023, 88th Leg., ch. 768 (H.B. 4595), § 17.003.
 

(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 12,1 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.