By Conley                                              H.B. No. 515
       74R2277 DD-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to offenses committed by an actor against a member of the
    1-3  actor's family or household or involving community property or
    1-4  property held pursuant to orders issued in a family law proceeding.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Section 1.07(a)(35), Penal Code, is amended to
    1-7  read as follows:
    1-8              (35)  "Owner" means a person who:
    1-9                    (A)  has title to the property, possession of the
   1-10  property, whether lawful or not, or a greater right to possession
   1-11  of the property than the actor; <or>
   1-12                    (B)  has possession of community property as
   1-13  defined by Section 5.01, Family Code, that is subject to the
   1-14  person's sole management, control, and disposition;
   1-15                    (C)  has possession of the property pursuant to
   1-16  an order issued under Section 3.581, 71.11, or 71.12, Family Code;
   1-17  or
   1-18                    (D)  is a holder in due course of a negotiable
   1-19  instrument.
   1-20        SECTION 2.  Chapter 6, Penal Code, is amended by adding
   1-21  Section 6.05 to read as follows:
   1-22        Sec. 6.05.  WHEN THE VICTIM IS A MEMBER OF THE ACTOR'S FAMILY
   1-23  OR HOUSEHOLD.  (a)  In this section:
   1-24              (1)  "Family" has the meaning assigned by Section
    2-1  71.01, Family Code.
    2-2              (2)  "Household" has the meaning assigned by Section
    2-3  71.01, Family Code.
    2-4        (b)  Conduct against an individual that constitutes an
    2-5  offense under this code does not lose its status as an offense
    2-6  because it is committed by an actor against an individual who is
    2-7  the actor's spouse or a member of the actor's family or household,
    2-8  unless the offense is defined to specifically exclude conduct
    2-9  against a spouse or family or household member.
   2-10        SECTION 3.  This Act is not intended to change the law, but
   2-11  rather to clarify any ambiguity that may exist in the prosecution
   2-12  of criminal offenses.
   2-13        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-14  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-15  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-16  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-17  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-18  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-19  passage, and it is so enacted.