By Place                                        H.B. No. 1649

      75R5759 CAS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to thwarting the compulsory school attendance law;

 1-3     providing a penalty.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 25.093(e), Education Code, is amended to

 1-6     read as follows:

 1-7           (e)  Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, an [An]

 1-8     offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.  An offense

 1-9     under this  section is a Class B misdemeanor if it is shown on the

1-10     trial of the offense that the defendant has previously been

1-11     convicted under this section.  [Each day the child remains out of

1-12     school after the warning has been given or the child has been

1-13     ordered to attend school by the juvenile court may constitute a

1-14     separate offense.  Two or more offenses under this section may be

1-15     consolidated and prosecuted in a single action.] If the court

1-16     probates the sentence, the court may require the defendant to

1-17     render personal services to a charitable or educational institution

1-18     as a condition of probation.  In making a determination concerning

1-19     requiring the defendant to render personal services, the court may

1-20     assess and consider lost funding resulting from the child's failure

1-21     to attend school to the school district in which the child is

1-22     enrolled.

1-23           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

1-24     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

 2-1     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before

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

 2-3     before that date.

 2-4           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

 2-5     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

 2-6     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

 2-7           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 2-8           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.