By Nixon                                        H.B. No. 1446

      75R4743 JD-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the penalty for knowingly or intentionally

 1-3     manufacturing, delivering, or possessing with intent to manufacture

 1-4     or deliver less than one gram of certain controlled substances.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 481.112(b), Health and Safety Code, is

 1-7     amended to read as follows:

 1-8           (b)  An offense under Subsection (a) is a [state jail] felony

 1-9     of the third degree if the amount of the controlled substance to

1-10     which the offense applies is, by aggregate weight, including

1-11     adulterants or dilutants, less than one gram.

1-12           SECTION 2.  Section 481.113(b), Health and Safety Code, is

1-13     amended to read as follows:

1-14           (b)  An offense under Subsection (a) is a [state jail] felony

1-15     of the third degree if the amount of the controlled substance to

1-16     which the offense applies is, by aggregate weight, including

1-17     adulterants or dilutants, less than one gram.

1-18           SECTION 3.  Section 15(d), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal

1-19     Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

1-20           (d)  A judge may impose as a condition of community

1-21     supervision that a defendant submit at the beginning of the period

1-22     of community supervision to a term of confinement in a state jail

1-23     felony facility for a term of not less than 90 days or more than

1-24     180 days, or a term of not less than 90 days or more than one year

 2-1     if the defendant is convicted of an offense punishable as a state

 2-2     jail felony under Section [481.112, 481.113, or] 481.120, Health

 2-3     and Safety Code.  A judge may not require a defendant to submit to

 2-4     both the term of confinement authorized by this subsection and a

 2-5     term of confinement under Section 5 or 12 of this article.  For the

 2-6     purposes of this subsection, a defendant previously has been

 2-7     convicted of a felony regardless of whether the sentence for the

 2-8     previous conviction was actually imposed or was probated and

 2-9     suspended.

2-10           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-11           SECTION 5.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

2-12     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

2-13     Act.  For the purposes of this section, an offense was committed

2-14     before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense

2-15     occurred before the effective date.

2-16           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

2-17     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

2-18     and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.

2-19           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.