1-1     By:  Shapiro                                            S.B. No. 50

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed November 12, 1996; January 14, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;

 1-4     April 23, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 6,

 1-5     Nays 0; April 23, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the penalty for driving while a driver's license is

 1-9     invalid.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 521.457, Transportation Code, is amended

1-12     by amending Subsections (e) and (f), redesignating Subsection (g)

1-13     as Subsection (h), and adding a new Subsection (g) to read as

1-14     follows:

1-15           (e)  Except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (f) and

1-16     (g), an offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by:

1-17                 (1)  a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500;

1-18     and

1-19                 (2)  confinement in county jail for a term of not less

1-20     than 72 hours or more than six months.

1-21           (f)  If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this

1-22     section that the person has previously been convicted of an offense

1-23     under this section or Section 601.371(a), the offense is a Class A

1-24     misdemeanor.  This subsection does not apply to an offense

1-25     punishable under Subsection (g).

1-26           (g)  An offense under this section is a state jail felony if

1-27     it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person's driver's

1-28     license was suspended for:

1-29                 (1)  an offense under Section 49.04, Penal Code, for

1-30     which the person was punished under Section 49.09(b) of that code;

1-31     or

1-32                 (2)  an offense under Section 49.07 or 49.08 of that

1-33     code.

1-34           (h) [(g)]  For purposes of this section, a conviction for an

1-35     offense that involves operation of a motor vehicle after August 31,

1-36     1987, is a final conviction, regardless of whether the sentence for

1-37     the conviction is probated.

1-38           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.  The

1-39     change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed

1-40     on or after September 1, 1997.  An offense committed before

1-41     September 1, 1997, is covered by the law in effect when the offense

1-42     was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that

1-43     purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed

1-44     before September 1, 1997, if any element of the offense occurs

1-45     before that date.

1-46           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-47     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-48     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-49     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-50     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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