S.B. No. 145
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the reckless discharge of a firearm; creating offenses
1-2 and providing penalties.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Chapter 42, Penal Code, is amended by adding
1-5 Section 42.015 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 42.015. DISCHARGE OF FIREARM IN CERTAIN METROPOLITAN
1-7 AREAS. (a) A person commits an offense if the person recklessly
1-8 discharges a firearm inside the corporate limits of a municipality
1-9 having a population of 100,000 or more according to the most recent
1-10 federal census.
1-11 (b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
1-12 (c) If conduct constituting an offense under this section
1-13 also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the
1-14 person may be prosecuted under either section.
1-15 SECTION 2. Sections 125.001, 125.021, and 125.041, Civil
1-16 Practice and Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-17 Sec. 125.001. Common Nuisance. A person who knowingly
1-18 maintains a place to which persons habitually go for the purpose of
1-19 prostitution or gambling in violation of the Penal Code, for the
1-20 purpose of reckless discharge of a firearm as described by Section
1-21 42.015, Penal Code, or for the delivery or use of a controlled
1-22 substance in violation of Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code,
1-23 maintains a common nuisance.
1-24 Sec. 125.021. Public Nuisance. The habitual use or the
2-1 threatened or contemplated habitual use of any place for any of the
2-2 following purposes is a public nuisance:
2-3 (1) gambling, gambling promotion, or communicating
2-4 gambling information prohibited by law;
2-5 (2) promotion or aggravated promotion of prostitution;
2-6 (3) compelling prostitution;
2-7 (4) commercial manufacture, commercial distribution,
2-8 or commercial exhibition of obscene material;
2-9 (5) commercial exhibition of live dances or other acts
2-10 depicting real or simulated sexual intercourse or deviate sexual
2-11 intercourse;
2-12 (6) engaging in a voluntary fight between a man and a
2-13 bull if the fight is for a thing of value or a championship, if a
2-14 thing of value is wagered on the fight, or if an admission fee for
2-15 the fight is directly or indirectly charged, as prohibited by law;
2-16 <or>
2-17 (7) reckless discharge of a firearm as described by
2-18 Section 42.015, Penal Code; or
2-19 (8) delivering or using a controlled substance in
2-20 violation of Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code.
2-21 Sec. 125.041. Public Nuisance. For the purposes of this
2-22 subchapter, a public nuisance is considered to exist at a place if
2-23 one or more of the following acts occurs at that place on a regular
2-24 basis:
2-25 (1) gambling, gambling promotion, or communication of
2-26 gambling information, as prohibited by Chapter 47, Penal Code;
2-27 (2) promotion or aggravated promotion of prostitution,
3-1 as prohibited by Chapter 43, Penal Code;
3-2 (3) compelling prostitution, as prohibited by Chapter
3-3 43, Penal Code;
3-4 (4) commercial manufacture, commercial distribution,
3-5 or commercial exhibition of material that is obscene, as defined by
3-6 Section 43.21, Penal Code;
3-7 (5) commercial exhibition of a live dance or other act
3-8 in which a person engages in real or simulated sexual intercourse
3-9 or deviate sexual intercourse, as defined by Section 43.01, Penal
3-10 Code; <or>
3-11 (6) reckless discharge of a firearm as described by
3-12 Section 42.015, Penal Code; or
3-13 (7) manufacture, delivery, or use of a controlled
3-14 substance in violation of Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code.
3-15 SECTION 3. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 125.004, Civil
3-16 Practice and Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:
3-17 (a) Proof that prostitution or gambling in violation of the
3-18 Penal Code, that reckless discharge of a firearm as described by
3-19 Section 42.015, Penal Code, or that the delivery or use of a
3-20 controlled substance in violation of Chapter 481, Health and Safety
3-21 Code, is frequently committed at the place involved or that the
3-22 place is frequently used for reckless discharge of a firearm as
3-23 described by Section 42.015, Penal Code, is prima facie evidence
3-24 that the proprietor knowingly permitted the act.
3-25 (b) Evidence that persons have been convicted of gambling,
3-26 committing prostitution, reckless discharge of a firearm as
3-27 described by Section 42.015, Penal Code, or delivering or using a
4-1 controlled substance in violation of Chapter 481, Health and Safety
4-2 Code, in the place involved is admissible to show knowledge on the
4-3 part of the defendant that the act occurred. The originals or
4-4 certified copies of the papers and judgments of those convictions
4-5 are admissible in the suit for injunction, and oral evidence is
4-6 admissible to show that the offense for which a person was
4-7 convicted was committed at the place involved.
4-8 SECTION 4. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
4-9 (b) Section 2 of this Act applies only to a cause of action
4-10 that accrues on or after the effective date of this Act. A cause
4-11 of action that accrues before the effective date of this Act is
4-12 governed by the law in effect at the time the cause of action
4-13 accrued, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
4-14 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.