By: Wentworth S.B. No. 1380
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the punishment of an offense of murder during the
1-2 commission or attempted commission of certain offenses under the
1-3 Texas Controlled Substances Act as a capital offense.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 19.03, Penal Code, is
1-6 amended to read 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 first 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, or an offense under Section 481.112, 481.113, 481.114,
1-16 481.120, or 481.122 of the Texas Controlled Substances Act (Chapter
1-17 481, Health and Safety Code);
1-18 (3) the person commits the murder for remuneration or
1-19 the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder
1-20 for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
1-21 (4) the person commits the murder while escaping or
1-22 attempting to escape from a penal institution;
1-23 (5) the person, while incarcerated in a penal
2-1 institution, murders another:
2-2 (A) who is employed in the operation of the
2-3 penal institution; or
2-4 (B) with the intent to establish, maintain, or
2-5 participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
2-6 (6) the person:
2-7 (A) while incarcerated for an offense under this
2-8 section or Section 19.02, murders another; or
2-9 (B) while serving a sentence of life
2-10 imprisonment or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section
2-11 20.04, 22.021, or 29.03, murders another;
2-12 (7) the person murders more than one person:
2-13 (A) during the same criminal transaction; or
2-14 (B) during different criminal transactions but
2-15 the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of
2-16 conduct; or
2-17 (8) the person murders an individual under six years
2-18 of age.
2-19 SECTION 2. (a) The changes in law made by this Act apply
2-20 only to the punishment for an offense committed on or after the
2-21 effective date of this Act. For the purposes of this Act, an
2-22 offense is committed or a violation occurs before the effective
2-23 date of this Act if any element of the offense or violation occurs
2-24 before that date.
2-25 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
3-1 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
3-2 and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
3-3 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
3-4 SECTION 4. SEVERABILITY. If any section, sentence, clause,
3-5 or part of this Act shall, for any reason, be held invalid, such
3-6 invalidity shall not affect the remaining portions of the Act, and
3-7 it is hereby declared to be the intention of this legislature to
3-8 have passed each section, sentence, clause, or part irrespective of
3-9 the fact that any other section, sentence, clause, or part may be
3-10 declared invalid.
3-11 SECTION 5. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
3-12 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.