By:  Conley                                            H.B. No. 441
       73R1965 DRH-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to offenses committed by an actor against the actor's
    1-3  spouse or a member of the actor's family or household, and to the
    1-4  definition of "owner" in the Penal Code.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Section 1.07(a)(24), Penal Code, is amended to
    1-7  read as follows:
    1-8              (24)  "Owner" means a person who:
    1-9                    (A)  has title to the property, possession of the
   1-10  property, whether lawful or not, or a greater right to possession
   1-11  of the property than the actor; <or>
   1-12                    (B)  is a holder in due course of a negotiable
   1-13  instrument; or
   1-14                    (C)  has possession of community property as
   1-15  defined by Section 5.01, Family Code, that is subject to the
   1-16  person's sole management, control, and disposition, or who has
   1-17  possession of the property pursuant to an order issued under
   1-18  Section 3.58, 3.581, 71.11, or 71.12, Family Code.
   1-19        SECTION 2.  Chapter 6, Penal Code, is amended by adding
   1-20  Section 6.05 to read as follows:
   1-21        Sec. 6.05.  WHEN VICTIM IS MEMBER OF ACTOR'S FAMILY OR
   1-22  HOUSEHOLD.  Conduct against an individual that constitutes an
   1-23  offense under this code does not lose its status as an offense
   1-24  because it is committed by an actor against an individual who is
    2-1  the actor's spouse or a member of the actor's family or household,
    2-2  unless the offense is defined to specifically exclude conduct
    2-3  against a spouse or family or household member.
    2-4        SECTION 3.  This Act is not intended to change the law, but
    2-5  rather to clarify any ambiguity that may exist in the prosecution
    2-6  of criminal offenses.
    2-7        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-8  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-9  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-10  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-11  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-12  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-13  passage, and it is so enacted.