By:  Shelley                                          S.B. No. 1039
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the punishment for the offenses of false imprisonment,
    1-2  kidnapping, and aggravated kidnapping and to the definition of
    1-3  deadly force as it relates to those offenses.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 20.01, Penal Code, is amended by adding
    1-6  Subdivision (4) to read as follows:
    1-7              (4)  "Deadly force" means force that is intended or
    1-8  known by the actor to cause or in the manner of its use or intended
    1-9  use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.
   1-10        SECTION 2.  Subsection (c), Section 20.02, Penal Code, is
   1-11  amended to read as follows:
   1-12        (c)  An offense under this section is a Class A <B>
   1-13  misdemeanor unless the actor recklessly exposes the victim to a
   1-14  substantial risk of serious bodily injury, in which event it is a
   1-15  felony of the third degree.
   1-16        SECTION 3.  Subsection (c), Section 20.03, Penal Code, is
   1-17  amended to read as follows:
   1-18        (c)  An offense under this section is a felony of the second
   1-19  <third> degree.
   1-20        SECTION 4.  Subsection (b), Section 20.04, Penal Code, is
   1-21  amended to read as follows:
   1-22        (b)  An offense under this section is a felony of the first
   1-23  degree <unless the actor voluntarily releases the victim alive and
    2-1  in a safe place, in which event it is a felony of the second
    2-2  degree>.
    2-3        SECTION 5.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
    2-4  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
    2-5  Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
    2-6  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
    2-7  before that date.
    2-8        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
    2-9  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
   2-10  and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
   2-11        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-12  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-13  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-14  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-15  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-16  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-17  passage, and it is so enacted.