Tex. Health & Safety Code § 242.842 · Subchapter R. ELECTRONIC MONITORING OF RESIDENT'S ROOM
CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LIABILITY.
Text — Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
(a) It is a defense to prosecution under Section 16.02, Penal Code, or any other statute of this state under which it is an offense to intercept a communication or disclose or use an intercepted communication, that the communication was intercepted by an electronic monitoring device placed in the room of a resident of an institution.
(b) This subchapter does not affect whether a person may be held to be civilly liable under other law in connection with placing an electronic monitoring device in the room of a resident of an institution or in connection with using or disclosing a tape or recording made by the device except:
(1) as specifically provided by this subchapter; or
(2) to the extent that liability is affected by:
(A) a consent or waiver signed under this subchapter; or
(B) the fact that authorized electronic monitoring is required to be conducted with notice to persons who enter a resident's room.
(c) A communication or other sound acquired by an audio electronic monitoring device installed under the provisions of this subchapter concerning authorized electronic monitoring is not considered to be:
(1) an oral communication as defined by Article 18A.001, Code of Criminal Procedure; or
(2) a communication as defined by Section 123.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1224, Sec. 1, eff. June 15, 2001.
Amended by:
Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1058 (H.B. 2931), Sec. 3.13, eff. January 1, 2019.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
- Official file
- https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/HS/htm/HS.242.htm
- Text hash
- sha256 0b1d2bce5a6ec83ae97c7889b2c8213fa2eab86165e9a062c549b3feae3409e7
- Composed by
- compose_tx.py 2026-10-05: the Legislative Council's chapter files read in document order; verify_tx.py's independent reading (lxml DOM walk) agrees character for character
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Civil Practice and Remedies Code
Code of Criminal Procedure
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.