By Naishtat, Greenberg                                H.B. No. 1707
       74R7000 GWK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the forfeiture or destruction of weapons belonging to
    1-3  persons convicted of  certain crimes.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article 18.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-6  amended by adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:
    1-7        (h)  A prohibited weapon forfeited to a law enforcement
    1-8  agency under this article may be used by the agency only for
    1-9  official law enforcement use, and the agency may not provide the
   1-10  weapon to a peace officer employed by the agency for personal use
   1-11  or dispose of the weapon in any manner other than by:
   1-12              (1)  destroying the weapon; or
   1-13              (2)  if the weapon is an antique or curio firearm
   1-14  manufactured before 1899, donating the weapon to a museum, as
   1-15  defined by Section 80.002, Property Code.
   1-16        SECTION 2.  Article 18.19, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
   1-17  amended by adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
   1-18        (f)  A weapon forfeited to a law enforcement agency under
   1-19  this article may be used by the agency only for official law
   1-20  enforcement use, and the agency may not provide the weapon to a
   1-21  peace officer employed by the agency for personal use or dispose of
   1-22  the weapon in any manner other than by:
   1-23              (1)  destroying the weapon; or
   1-24              (2)  if the weapon is an antique or curio firearm
    2-1  manufactured before 1899, donating the weapon to a museum, as
    2-2  defined by Section 80.002, Property Code.
    2-3        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
    2-4  applies to all weapons involved in a criminal offense that are in
    2-5  the possession of a law enforcement agency on or after that date.
    2-6        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-7  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-8  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-9  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-10  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.