By Davila                                       H.B. No. 1641

      75R2948 JMC-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the prosecution of the offense of hindering the

 1-3     apprehension or prosecution of another.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 38.05(a), Penal Code, is amended to read

 1-6     as follows:

 1-7           (a)  A person commits an offense if, with intent to hinder

 1-8     the arrest, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of another for

 1-9     an offense, with intent to hinder the imposition of a sanction on

1-10     another for a violation of a condition of community supervision or

1-11     parole, or[,] with intent to hinder the arrest, detention,

1-12     adjudication, or disposition of a child for engaging in delinquent

1-13     conduct that violates a penal law of the grade of felony, he:

1-14                 (1)  harbors or conceals the other;

1-15                 (2)  provides or aids in providing the other with any

1-16     means of avoiding arrest or effecting escape; or

1-17                 (3)  warns the other of impending discovery or

1-18     apprehension.

1-19           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

1-20     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

1-21     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before

1-22     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs

1-23     before that date.

1-24           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

 2-1     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

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

 2-3           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

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

 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.