By Allen                                               H.B. No. 442
       74R3139 GWK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the punishment for the offense of evading arrest or
    1-3  detention.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 38.04(b), Penal Code, is amended to read
    1-6  as follows:
    1-7        (b)  An offense under this section is a state jail felony
    1-8  <Class B misdemeanor>, except that <the offense is a felony of the
    1-9  third degree> if <a peace officer suffers serious bodily injury or
   1-10  death from any cause other than an assault or homicide by the
   1-11  actor> as a direct result of an attempt by the peace officer to
   1-12  apprehend the actor while the actor is in flight, from any cause
   1-13  other than an assault or homicide by the actor, another suffers:
   1-14              (1)  bodily injury, the offense is a felony of the
   1-15  third degree; or
   1-16              (2)  serious bodily injury or death, the offense is a
   1-17  felony of the second degree.
   1-18        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   1-19  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
   1-20  Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
   1-21  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
   1-22  before the effective date.
   1-23        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
   1-24  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
    2-1  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
    2-2        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    2-3        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.