By:  De La Garza                                       H.B. No. 288
       73R2290 GWK-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to criminal trespass on land where crops are grown.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 30.05(b)(2), Penal Code, is amended to
    1-5  read as follows:
    1-6              (2)  "Notice" means:
    1-7                    (A)  oral or written communication by the owner
    1-8  or someone with apparent authority to act for the owner;
    1-9                    (B)  fencing or other enclosure obviously
   1-10  designed to exclude intruders or to contain livestock; <or>
   1-11                    (C)  a sign or signs posted on the property or at
   1-12  the entrance to the building, reasonably likely to come to the
   1-13  attention of intruders, indicating that entry is forbidden; or
   1-14                    (D)  the visible presence on the property of a
   1-15  crop under cultivation, in the process of being harvested, or
   1-16  marketable if harvested at the time of entry.
   1-17        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   1-18  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
   1-19  Act.
   1-20        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
   1-21  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
   1-22  and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.  For
   1-23  purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the
   1-24  effective date if any element of the offense occurs before the
    2-1  effective date.
    2-2        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    2-3        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.