By Driver                                        H.B. No. 171

      75R1303 DWS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the penalty for a false application for a driver's

 1-3     license or a certificate issued by the Department of Public Safety.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 521.454(c), Transportation Code, is

 1-6     amended to read as follows:

 1-7           (c)  An offense under this section is a Class A [C]

 1-8     misdemeanor[, except that the offense is a Class B misdemeanor if

 1-9     the matter, information, or statement falsely sworn to or affirmed

1-10     relates to the cancellation, suspension, revocation, or denial of

1-11     the declarant's license].

1-12           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

1-13     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

1-14     Act.  For the purposes of this section, an offense is committed

1-15     before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense

1-16     occurs before that date.

1-17           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

1-18     Act is governed by the law in effect when the offense was

1-19     committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that

1-20     purpose.

1-21           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-22           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

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