(a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly gains access to information stored or maintained by a computer under the control of the council and the person is not authorized by the council to have access to that information.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly damages, destroys, deletes, or alters or impairs access to or use of information stored or maintained by a computer under the control of the council and the person is not authorized by the council to do so.

Attorney's Note

Under the Texas Codes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class A misdemeanorup to 1 yearup to $4,000
For details, see Texas Penal Code § 12.21

Terms Used In Texas Government Code 323.015

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005

(c) Subsection (b) does not apply to an interruption of utility service or other service that causes the damage, destruction, deletion, or alteration of or impairment of access to or use of the information unless the interruption was intended to have that result.
(d) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.