1-1           By:  Ellis, Patterson, Whitmire                   S.B. No. 78

 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     February 26, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas

 1-5     7, Nays 0; February 26, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to punishment for the offense of arson.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Subsection (d), Section 28.02, Penal Code, is

1-11     amended to read as follows:

1-12           (d)  An offense under this section is a felony of the second

1-13     degree, except that the offense [unless bodily injury or death is

1-14     suffered by any person by reason of the commission of the offense,

1-15     in which event it] is a felony of the first degree if it is shown

1-16     on the trial of the offense that:

1-17                 (1)  bodily injury or death was suffered by any person

1-18     by reason of the commission of the offense; or

1-19                 (2)  the actor committed the offense knowing that the

1-20     property intended to be damaged or destroyed was a place of

1-21     worship.

1-22           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

1-23     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

1-24     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before

1-25     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs

1-26     before the effective date.

1-27           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

1-28     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

1-29     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

1-30           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-31           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-32     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-33     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-34     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-35     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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