By Turner of Coleman                                   H.B. No. 182
       74R332 GWK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the murder of an individual providing certain medical
    1-3  emergency care or an individual serving as a fire department or law
    1-4  enforcement chaplain as a capital offense.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Section 19.03(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
    1-7  as follows:
    1-8        (a)  A person commits an offense if he commits murder as
    1-9  defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and:
   1-10              (1)  the person murders a peace officer, a <or>
   1-11  fireman, or an individual qualified as an emergency care attendant
   1-12  or emergency medical technician under Chapter 773, Health and
   1-13  Safety Code, who is acting in the lawful discharge of an official
   1-14  duty and who the person knows is a peace officer, <or> fireman, or
   1-15  emergency care attendant or emergency medical technician;
   1-16              (2)  the person intentionally commits the murder in the
   1-17  course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,
   1-18  robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, or obstruction or
   1-19  retaliation;
   1-20              (3)  the person commits the murder for remuneration or
   1-21  the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder
   1-22  for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
   1-23              (4)  the person commits the murder while escaping or
   1-24  attempting to escape from a penal institution;
    2-1              (5)  the person, while incarcerated in a penal
    2-2  institution, murders another:
    2-3                    (A)  who is employed in the operation of the
    2-4  penal institution; or
    2-5                    (B)  with the intent to establish, maintain, or
    2-6  participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
    2-7              (6)  the person:
    2-8                    (A)  while incarcerated for an offense under this
    2-9  section or Section 19.02, murders another; or
   2-10                    (B)  while serving a sentence of life
   2-11  imprisonment or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section
   2-12  20.04, 22.021, or 29.03, murders another;
   2-13              (7)  the person murders more than one person:
   2-14                    (A)  during the same criminal transaction; or
   2-15                    (B)  during different criminal transactions but
   2-16  the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of
   2-17  conduct; <or>
   2-18              (8)  the person murders an individual under six years
   2-19  of age; or
   2-20              (9)  the person murders an individual who is acting in
   2-21  the discharge of a duty as a fire department or law enforcement
   2-22  chaplain and who the person knows is a chaplain.
   2-23        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   2-24  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
   2-25  Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
   2-26  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
   2-27  before the effective date.
    3-1        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
    3-2  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
    3-3  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
    3-4        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    3-5        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-6  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-7  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-8  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-9  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.