By Driver                                              H.B. No. 157

         75R1302 JD-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the penalty for tampering with certain governmental

 1-3     records.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 37.10, Penal Code, is amended by amending

 1-6     Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:

 1-7           (c) Except as provided in Subsection (d) or (h), an offense

 1-8     under this section is a Class A misdemeanor unless the actor's

 1-9     intent is to defraud or harm another, in which event the offense is

1-10     a state jail felony.

1-11           (h)  An offense under Subsection (a)(4) or (a)(6) is  a

1-12     felony of the third degree if the governmental record is an

1-13     evidence of financial responsibility.  In this subsection,

1-14     "evidence of financial responsibility" means a document or a

1-15     certificate described by Section 601.053, Transportation Code.

1-16           SECTION 2.  Sections 601.087 and 601.196, Transportation

1-17     Code, are repealed.

1-18           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.  The

1-19     changes in law made by this Act apply only to an offense committed

1-20     on or after September 1, 1997.  An offense committed before

1-21     September 1, 1997, is covered by the law in effect when the offense

1-22     was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that

1-23     purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed

1-24     before September 1, 1997, if any element of the offense occurred

 2-1     before that date.

 2-2           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.