By:  Krusee                                           H.B. No. 1404
       73R5591 GWK-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the punishment and eligibility for parole of a repeat
    1-3  and habitual violent offender.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 12.42, Penal Code, is amended by adding
    1-6  Subsection (e) to read as follows:
    1-7        (e)  If it is shown on the trial of a felony offense listed
    1-8  in this subsection that the defendant has previously been finally
    1-9  convicted of two felony offenses listed in this subsection, and the
   1-10  second previous conviction is for an offense that occurred
   1-11  subsequent to the first previous conviction having become final, on
   1-12  conviction the defendant shall be punished by confinement in the
   1-13  institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
   1-14  for life, unless the instant offense is a capital offense, in which
   1-15  event the defendant shall be punished by confinement for life or by
   1-16  death.  This subsection applies to offenses under the following
   1-17  sections of the Penal Code:
   1-18              (1)  Section 19.02;
   1-19              (2)  Section 19.03;
   1-20              (3)  Section 20.04;
   1-21              (4)  Section 22.02;
   1-22              (5)  Section 22.021;
   1-23              (6)  Section 22.03;
   1-24              (7)  Section 22.04; and
    2-1              (8)  Section 29.03.
    2-2        SECTION 2.  Section 2, Article 37.071, Code of Criminal
    2-3  Procedure, is amended by adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:
    2-4        (i)  If it is shown on the trial of a capital offense that
    2-5  the defendant has been convicted of two felony offenses listed in
    2-6  Section 12.42(e), Penal Code, and the second previous felony
    2-7  conviction is for an offense that occurred subsequent to the first
    2-8  previous conviction having become final, the court shall make an
    2-9  affirmative finding of that fact and enter the finding in the
   2-10  judgment in the case.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  Section 8(b)(2), Article 42.18, Code of Criminal
   2-12  Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
   2-13              (2)  If a prisoner is serving a life sentence for a
   2-14  capital felony, the prisoner is not eligible for release on parole
   2-15  until the actual calendar time the prisoner has served, without
   2-16  consideration of good conduct time, equals 35 calendar years,
   2-17  unless the judgment for the offense contains an affirmative finding
   2-18  under Section 2(i), Article 37.071 of this code, in which event the
   2-19  prisoner is not eligible for release on parole.  A prisoner serving
   2-20  a life sentence imposed under Section 12.42(e), Penal Code, is not
   2-21  eligible for release on parole.
   2-22        SECTION 4.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
   2-23  on the trial of an offense committed on or after the effective date
   2-24  of this Act.  For the purposes of this section, an offense is
   2-25  committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of
   2-26  the offense occurs before the effective date.  A defendant
   2-27  convicted of an offense committed before the effective date of this
    3-1  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
    3-2  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
    3-3        SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    3-4        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-5  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-6  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-7  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-8  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.