By Ratliff                                             S.B. No. 272
       74R2874 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 or receiving deferred adjudication for the
    1-4  commission of certain crimes.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Article 18.19(d), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-7  amended to read as follows:
    1-8        (d)  A person either convicted or receiving deferred
    1-9  adjudication under Penal Code Chapter 46 is entitled to the weapon
   1-10  seized upon request to the law enforcement agency holding the
   1-11  weapon.  However, the court entering the judgment of conviction
   1-12  shall order the weapon destroyed or forfeited to the state for use
   1-13  by the law enforcement agency holding the weapon if:
   1-14              (1)  the person does not request the weapon within 60
   1-15  days after the date of the judgment of conviction;
   1-16              (2)  the person has been previously convicted under
   1-17  Penal Code Chapter 46;
   1-18              (3)  the weapon is one defined as a prohibited weapon
   1-19  under Penal Code Chapter 46; <or>
   1-20              (4)  the offense for which the person is convicted or
   1-21  receives deferred adjudication was committed in or on the premises
   1-22  of a playground, school, video arcade facility, or youth center, as
   1-23  those terms are defined by Section 481.134, Health and Safety Code;
   1-24  or
    2-1              (5)  the court determines based on the prior criminal
    2-2  history of the defendant or based on the circumstances surrounding
    2-3  the commission of the offense that possession of the seized weapon
    2-4  would pose a threat to the community or one or more individuals.
    2-5        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
    2-6  applies to a weapon involved in a criminal offense that is seized
    2-7  by a law enforcement agency on or after that date.
    2-8        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-9  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-10  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-11  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-12  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.