By Patterson                                           S.B. No. 891
       74R6146 GWK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the punishment for murder of an individual selected as
    1-3  a victim because of the individual's race.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 19.03(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
    1-6  as follows:
    1-7        (a)  A person commits an offense if he commits murder as
    1-8  defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and:
    1-9              (1)  the person murders a peace officer or fireman who
   1-10  is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the
   1-11  person knows is a peace officer or fireman;
   1-12              (2)  the person intentionally commits the murder in the
   1-13  course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,
   1-14  robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, or obstruction or
   1-15  retaliation;
   1-16              (3)  the person commits the murder for remuneration or
   1-17  the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder
   1-18  for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
   1-19              (4)  the person commits the murder while escaping or
   1-20  attempting to escape from a penal institution;
   1-21              (5)  the person, while incarcerated in a penal
   1-22  institution, murders another:
   1-23                    (A)  who is employed in the operation of the
   1-24  penal institution; or
    2-1                    (B)  with the intent to establish, maintain, or
    2-2  participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
    2-3              (6)  the person:
    2-4                    (A)  while incarcerated for an offense under this
    2-5  section or Section 19.02, murders another; or
    2-6                    (B)  while serving a sentence of life
    2-7  imprisonment or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section
    2-8  20.04, 22.021, or 29.03, murders another;
    2-9              (7)  the person murders more than one person:
   2-10                    (A)  during the same criminal transaction; or
   2-11                    (B)  during different criminal transactions but
   2-12  the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of
   2-13  conduct; <or>
   2-14              (8)  the person murders an individual under six years
   2-15  of age; or
   2-16              (9)  the person murders an individual intentionally
   2-17  selected by the person because of the race of the individual.
   2-18        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   2-19  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
   2-20  Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
   2-21  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
   2-22  before the effective date.
   2-23        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
   2-24  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
   2-25  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-26        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-27        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-1  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-2  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-3  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-4  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.