By Keel                                               H.B. No. 2435

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the offense of money laundering.

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

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 34.01, Penal Code, is amended by amending

 1-5     Subdivision (4) and adding Subdivision (5) to read as follows:

 1-6                 (4)  "Proceeds" means funds acquired or derived

 1-7     directly or indirectly from, produced through, or realized through

 1-8     an act, or funds that have been fraudulently structured.

 1-9                 (5)  "Fraudulently structure" means to knowingly act

1-10     alone or in conjunction with another person to conduct one or more

1-11     transactions in currency or to create falsified records of

1-12     transactions in currency in any amount, on one or more days, in any

1-13     manner, for the purpose of evading the reporting requirements under

1-14     Article 351, Revised Statutes, or Title 31, United States Code,

1-15     Section 5313, 5316, or 5325, or any regulation prescribed under any

1-16     such section.

1-17           SECTION 2.  Section 34.02, Penal Code, is amended by adding

1-18     Subsection (f) to read as follows:

1-19           (f)  For purposes of this section, when proceeds of criminal

1-20     activity are related to one scheme or continuing course of conduct,

1-21     whether from the same or several sources, the conduct may be

1-22     considered as one offense and the amounts of the proceeds may be

1-23     aggregated in determining the grade of the offense.

1-24           SECTION 3.  If any section, sentence, clause, or part of this

 2-1     Act shall, for any reason, be held invalid, such invalidity shall

 2-2     not affect the remaining portions of the Act, and it is hereby

 2-3     declared to be the intention of this legislature to have passed

 2-4     each section, sentence, clause, or part irrespective of the fact

 2-5     that any other section, sentence, or part may be declared invalid.

 2-6           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect on September 1, 1997.

 2-7           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.