By Shapiro                                        S.B. No. 50

      75R1598 JD-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the penalty for driving while a driver's license is

 1-3     invalid.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 521.457, Transportation Code, is amended

 1-6     by amending Subsections (e) and (f), redesignating Subsection (g)

 1-7     as Subsection (h), and adding a new Subsection (g) to read as

 1-8     follows:

 1-9           (e)  Except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (f) and

1-10     (g), an offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by:

1-11                 (1)  a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500;

1-12     and

1-13                 (2)  confinement in county jail for a term of not less

1-14     than 72 hours or more than six months.

1-15           (f)  If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this

1-16     section that the person has previously been convicted of an offense

1-17     under this section or Section 601.371(a), the offense is a Class A

1-18     misdemeanor.  This subsection does not apply to an offense

1-19     punishable under Subsection (g).

1-20           (g)  An offense under this section is a state jail felony if

1-21     it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person's driver's

1-22     license was suspended for:

1-23                 (1)  an offense under Section 49.04, Penal Code, for

1-24     which the person was punished under Section 49.09(b) of that code;

 2-1     or

 2-2                 (2)  an offense under Section 49.07 or 49.08 of that

 2-3     code.

 2-4           (h) [(g)]  For purposes of this section, a conviction for an

 2-5     offense that involves operation of a motor vehicle after August 31,

 2-6     1987, is a final conviction, regardless of whether the sentence for

 2-7     the conviction is probated.

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

 2-9     change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed

2-10     on or after September 1, 1997.  An offense committed before

2-11     September 1, 1997, is covered by the law in effect when the offense

2-12     was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that

2-13     purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed

2-14     before September 1, 1997, if any element of the offense occurs

2-15     before that date.

2-16           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.