By Wilson                                       H.B. No. 1183

      75R5515 KEL-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the punishment for the offense of bigamy.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 25.01(e), Penal Code, is amended to read

 1-5     as follows:

 1-6           (e)  An offense under this section is a state jail felony

 1-7     [Class A misdemeanor].

 1-8           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.  The

 1-9     change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed

1-10     on or after September 1, 1997.  An offense committed before

1-11     September 1, 1997, is covered by the law in effect when the offense

1-12     was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that

1-13     purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed

1-14     before September 1, 1997, if any element of the offense occurred

1-15     before that date.

1-16           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.