By:  Shapiro, Moncrief                                 S.B. No. 134
            West, Zaffirini
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the punishment for certain assaults committed by one
    1-2  member of a family against another family member.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 22.01, Penal Code, is amended by amending
    1-5  Subsection (b) and by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
    1-6        (b)  An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
    1-7  misdemeanor unless it is shown on the trial of the offense that the
    1-8  offense was committed against a family member and that the
    1-9  defendant has been previously convicted of an offense against a
   1-10  family member under this section two or more times, in which event
   1-11  the offense is a state jail felony.
   1-12        (d)  In this section, "family" has the meaning assigned by
   1-13  Section 71.01, Family Code.
   1-14        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   1-15  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
   1-16  Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
   1-17  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
   1-18  before the effective date.
   1-19        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
   1-20  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
   1-21  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   1-22        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   1-23        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-24  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-1  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-2  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-3  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.