By Combs                                               H.B. No. 296
       74R2583 GWK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the punishment of habitual state jail felony offenders.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Sections 12.42(a) and (e), Penal Code, are
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (a)(1)  If it is shown on the trial of a state jail felony
    1-7  other than a state jail felony punishable under Section 12.35(c)
    1-8  that the defendant has previously been convicted two or more times
    1-9  of a state jail felony other than a state jail felony punished
   1-10  under Section 12.35(c), on conviction he shall be punished for a
   1-11  third-degree felony.
   1-12              (2)  If it is shown on the trial of a state jail felony
   1-13  punishable under Section 12.35(c) or on the trial of a third-degree
   1-14  felony that the defendant has been once before convicted of a
   1-15  felony, on conviction he shall be punished for a second-degree
   1-16  felony.
   1-17        (e)(1)  A previous conviction for a state jail felony other
   1-18  than a state jail felony punished under Section 12.35(c) may be
   1-19  used for enhancement purposes only under Subsection (a)(1).
   1-20              (2)  A previous conviction for a state jail felony <may
   1-21  be used for enhancement purposes under this section only if the
   1-22  defendant was> punished <for the offense> under Section 12.35(c)
   1-23  may be used for enhancement purposes only under Subsection (a)(2),
   1-24  (b), (c), or (d).
    2-1        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
    2-2  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
    2-3  Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
    2-4  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
    2-5  before the effective date.
    2-6        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
    2-7  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
    2-8  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
    2-9        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-10        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-12  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.