By Wilson                                               H.B. No. 58

      75R1379 PEP-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the punishment prescribed for murder of certain public

 1-3     servants.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  This Act shall be known as the Gil Epstein Act.

 1-6           SECTION 2.  Section 19.03(a), Penal Code, is amended to read

 1-7     as follows:

 1-8           (a)  A person commits an offense if he commits murder as

 1-9     defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and:

1-10                 (1)  the person:

1-11                       (A)  murders a peace officer or fireman who is

1-12     acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the

1-13     person knows is a peace officer or fireman; or

1-14                       (B)  murders an attorney who represents the state

1-15     in the prosecution of criminal cases in retaliation for or on

1-16     account of the attorney's service as a prosecutor;

1-17                 (2)  the person intentionally commits the murder in the

1-18     course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,

1-19     robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, or obstruction or

1-20     retaliation;

1-21                 (3)  the person commits the murder for remuneration or

1-22     the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder

1-23     for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;

1-24                 (4)  the person commits the murder while escaping or

 2-1     attempting to escape from a penal institution;

 2-2                 (5)  the person, while incarcerated in a penal

 2-3     institution, murders another:

 2-4                       (A)  who is employed in the operation of the

 2-5     penal institution; or

 2-6                       (B)  with the intent to establish, maintain, or

 2-7     participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;

 2-8                 (6)  the person:

 2-9                       (A)  while incarcerated for an offense under this

2-10     section or Section 19.02, murders another; or

2-11                       (B)  while serving a sentence of life

2-12     imprisonment or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section

2-13     20.04, 22.021, or 29.03, murders another;

2-14                 (7)  the person murders more than one person:

2-15                       (A)  during the same criminal transaction; or

2-16                       (B)  during different criminal transactions but

2-17     the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of

2-18     conduct; or

2-19                 (8)  the person murders an individual under six years

2-20     of age.

2-21           SECTION 3.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

2-22     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

2-23     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before

2-24     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs

2-25     before that date.

2-26           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

2-27     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

 3-1     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

 3-2           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 3-3           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the

 3-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.