By Merritt H.B. No. 793
75R3047 GWK-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to notice that entry on property is forbidden for the
1-3 purpose of prosecuting the offense of trespass.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 30.05(b)(2), Penal Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (2) "Notice" means:
1-8 (A) oral or written communication by the owner
1-9 or someone with apparent authority to act for the owner;
1-10 (B) fencing or other enclosure obviously
1-11 designed to exclude intruders or to contain livestock;
1-12 (C) a sign or signs posted on the property or at
1-13 the entrance to the building, reasonably likely to come to the
1-14 attention of intruders, indicating that entry is forbidden; [or]
1-15 (D) the placement of identifying purple paint
1-16 marks on trees or posts on the property, provided that the marks
1-17 are:
1-18 (i) vertical lines of not less than eight
1-19 inches in length;
1-20 (ii) placed so that the bottom of the mark
1-21 is not less than three feet from the ground or more than five feet
1-22 from the ground; and
1-23 (iii) placed no more than 100 feet apart
1-24 and at locations that are readily visible to any person approaching
2-1 the property; or
2-2 (E) the visible presence on the property of a
2-3 crop grown for human consumption that is under cultivation, in the
2-4 process of being harvested, or marketable if harvested at the time
2-5 of entry.
2-6 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
2-7 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
2-8 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
2-9 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-10 before the effective date.
2-11 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-12 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-13 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-14 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-15 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-16 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-17 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-18 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-19 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.