Tex. Penal Code § 42.0601 · Chapter 42. DISORDERLY CONDUCT AND RELATED OFFENSES
FALSE REPORT TO INDUCE EMERGENCY RESPONSE.
Text — Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
(a) A person commits an offense if:
(1) the person makes a report of a criminal offense or an emergency or causes a report of a criminal offense or an emergency to be made to a peace officer, law enforcement agency, 9-1-1 service as defined by Section 771.001, Health and Safety Code, official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies, or any other governmental employee or contractor who is authorized to receive reports of a criminal offense or emergency;
(2) the person knows that the report is false;
(3) the report causes an emergency response from a law enforcement agency or other emergency responder; and
(4) in making the report or causing the report to be made, the person is reckless with regard to whether the emergency response by a law enforcement agency or other emergency responder may directly result in bodily injury to another person.
(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor, except that the offense is:
(1) a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the defendant has previously been convicted two or more times of an offense under this section; or
(2) a felony of the third degree if:
(A) the false report was of a criminal offense to which a law enforcement agency or other emergency responder responded; and
(B) a person suffered serious bodily injury or death as a direct result of lawful conduct arising out of that response.
(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 both sections.
(d) This section may not be construed in any manner to conflict with 47 U.S.C. Section 230 or 42 U.S.C. Section 1983.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 945 (S.B. 1056), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2021.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
- Official file
- https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.42.htm
- Text hash
- sha256 af986924bce2ea7f6faab17fe0967687dae52365794005aa9d1c235532f8dac3
- 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.
Cited by 4 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Tex. Penal Code § 42.0601. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Code of Criminal Procedure
- Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 13A.451FALSE REPORT TO INDUCE EMERGENCY RESPONSE.Printed as Section 42.0601, Penal Code
- Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 42.014FINDING THAT OFFENSE WAS COMMITTED BECAUSE OF BIAS OR PREJUDICE.Printed as Section 28.02, 28.03, 28.08, or 42.0601, Penal Code
- Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 42.037RESTITUTION.Printed as Section 42.0601, Penal Code
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.