By:  Brady                                            H.B. No. 1802
       73R6313 GWK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the punishment and eligibility for parole of certain
    1-3  habitual violent offenders.
    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 under
    1-8  Title 5 of this code that the defendant has previously been finally
    1-9  convicted of two felony offenses under Title 5 of this code, and
   1-10  the 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.
   1-17        SECTION 2.  Section 2, Article 37.071, Code of Criminal
   1-18  Procedure, is amended by adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:
   1-19        (i)  If it is shown on the trial of a capital offense that
   1-20  the defendant has been convicted of two felony offenses under Title
   1-21  5, Penal Code, and the second previous felony conviction is for an
   1-22  offense that occurred subsequent to the first previous conviction
   1-23  having become final, the court shall make an affirmative finding of
   1-24  that fact and enter the finding in the judgment in the case.
    2-1        SECTION 3.  Section 8(b)(2), Article 42.18, Code of Criminal
    2-2  Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
    2-3              (2)  If a prisoner is serving a life sentence for a
    2-4  capital felony, the prisoner is not eligible for release on parole
    2-5  until the actual calendar time the prisoner has served, without
    2-6  consideration of good conduct time, equals 35 calendar years,
    2-7  unless the judgment for the offense contains an affirmative finding
    2-8  under Section 2(i), Article 37.071 of this code, in which event the
    2-9  prisoner is not eligible for release on parole.  A prisoner serving
   2-10  a life sentence imposed under Section 12.42(e), Penal Code, is not
   2-11  eligible for release on parole.
   2-12        SECTION 4.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
   2-13  on the trial of an offense committed on or after the effective date
   2-14  of this Act.  For the purposes of this section, an offense is
   2-15  committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of
   2-16  the offense occurs before the effective date.  A defendant
   2-17  convicted of an offense committed before the effective date of this
   2-18  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
   2-19  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-20        SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-21        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-22  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-23  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-24  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-25  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.