Sexual battery

The law creates heightened criminal penalties for sexual battery committed inside a residence entered without permission, recognizing the added invasion of a person’s home.

What the law does ​

• Makes sexual battery committed after nonconsensual entry into an inhabited house, trailer coach, or inhabited part of another building punishable as either a felony or a misdemeanor.
• Authorizes a felony sentence of two, three, or four years in state prison and a fine up to $10,000, or a county-jail sentence up to one year and a fine up to $5,000.
• Updates cross-references in psychotherapist disclosure and civil-liability laws to use the Penal Code’s definitions of intimate part and touching.

Who it affects ​

• People who commit sexual battery after entering an inhabited residence or living area without consent.
• Victims of sexual battery in their homes or other inhabited living spaces.
• Psychotherapists and clients involved in disclosure or civil claims concerning sexual contact by a psychotherapist.

Context ​

The bill does not require state reimbursement to local governments for costs arising from the new crime or changed penalty.