By:  Turner                                            S.B. No. 818
       73R3976 GWK-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the punishment as a capital offense of certain murders
    1-3  committed by individuals incarcerated in penal institutions.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 19.03, Penal Code, is amended by amending
    1-6  Subsection (a) and by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  A person commits an offense if he commits murder as
    1-8  defined under Section 19.02(a)(1) of this code and:
    1-9              (1)  the person murders a peace officer or fireman who
   1-10  is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the
   1-11  person knows is a peace officer or fireman;
   1-12              (2)  the person intentionally commits the murder in the
   1-13  course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,
   1-14  robbery, aggravated sexual assault, or arson;
   1-15              (3)  the person commits the murder for remuneration or
   1-16  the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder
   1-17  for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
   1-18              (4)  the person commits the murder while escaping or
   1-19  attempting to escape from a penal institution;
   1-20              (5)  the person, while incarcerated in a penal
   1-21  institution, murders another:
   1-22                    (A)  who is employed in the operation of the
   1-23  penal institution; or
   1-24                    (B)  with the intent to establish, maintain, or
    2-1  participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
    2-2              (6)  the person:
    2-3                    (A)  while incarcerated for an offense under this
    2-4  chapter, murders another; or
    2-5                    (B)  while serving a sentence of life
    2-6  imprisonment or a term of 99 years, murders another; or
    2-7              (7)  the person murders more than one person:
    2-8                    (A)  during the same criminal transaction; or
    2-9                    (B)  during different criminal transactions but
   2-10  the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of
   2-11  conduct.
   2-12        (d)  In this section, "combination" and "profits" have the
   2-13  meanings assigned by Section 71.01 of this code.
   2-14        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   2-15  only to a defendant convicted of an offense committed on or after
   2-16  the effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this section, an
   2-17  offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any
   2-18  element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
   2-19        (b)  A defendant convicted of an offense committed before the
   2-20  effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
   2-21  offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect
   2-22  for that purpose.
   2-23        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-24        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-25  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-26  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-27  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.