By West S.B. No. 89
75R874 DWS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to a fictitious, forged, or counterfeit driver's license,
1-3 personal identification certificate, or other instrument; providing
1-4 penalties.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 521.453, Transportation Code, is amended
1-7 by amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (g) to
1-8 read as follows:
1-9 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (f), a person commits
1-10 an offense if the person sells, manufactures, distributes, or
1-11 possesses a document that is deceptively similar to a driver's
1-12 license or a personal identification certificate [issued by the
1-13 department] unless the document displays the statement "NOT A
1-14 GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT" diagonally printed clearly and indelibly on
1-15 both the front and back of the document in solid red capital
1-16 letters at least one-fourth inch in height.
1-17 (b) For purposes of this section, a document is deceptively
1-18 similar to a driver's license or personal identification
1-19 certificate if a reasonable person would assume that it was issued
1-20 by the department, another agency of this state, another state, or
1-21 the United States.
1-22 (g) In this section:
1-23 (1) "Driver's license" includes a driver's license
1-24 issued by another state or by the United States.
2-1 (2) "Personal identification certificate" means a
2-2 personal identification certificate issued by the department, by
2-3 another agency of this state, by another state, or by the United
2-4 States.
2-5 SECTION 2. Section 521.456, Transportation Code, is amended
2-6 to read as follows:
2-7 Sec. 521.456. COUNTERFEIT INSTRUMENT. (a) A person commits
2-8 an offense if the person prints, engraves, copies, photographs,
2-9 makes, issues, sells, circulates, or passes a forged or counterfeit
2-10 instrument that the person knows is not printed, manufactured, or
2-11 made by or under the direction of, or issued, sold, or circulated
2-12 by or under the direction of, a person, board, agency, or authority
2-13 authorized to do so under this chapter or under the laws of the
2-14 United States, another state, or a Canadian province. An offense
2-15 under this subsection is a felony of the third degree.
2-16 (b) A person commits an offense if the person possesses with
2-17 the intent to use, sell, circulate, or pass a forged or counterfeit
2-18 instrument that is not printed, manufactured, or made by or under
2-19 the direction of, or issued, sold, or circulated by or under the
2-20 direction of, a person, board, agency, or authority authorized to
2-21 do so under this chapter or under the laws of the United States,
2-22 another state, or a Canadian province. An offense under this
2-23 subsection is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the
2-24 institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
2-25 for not less than two years or more than five years.
2-26 (c) A person commits an offense if the person possesses all
2-27 or part of a stamp, dye, plate, negative, machine, or other device
3-1 that is used or designed for use in forging or counterfeiting an
3-2 instrument.
3-3 [(d)] An offense under this subsection [section] is a felony
3-4 punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division of the
3-5 Texas [State] Department of Criminal Justice for not less than two
3-6 years or more than five years.
3-7 (d) [(e)] A court that has jurisdiction over an offense
3-8 under this section, or a district or county attorney, may subpoena
3-9 any person and compel the person's attendance as a witness to
3-10 testify regarding an offense under this section. A person who is
3-11 summoned and examined may not be prosecuted for the offense about
3-12 which the person testifies.
3-13 (e) [(f)] For purposes of this section, "instrument" means a
3-14 driver's license, driver's license form, personal identification
3-15 certificate, stamp, permit, license, official signature,
3-16 certificate, evidence of fee payment, or any other instrument.
3-17 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997. The
3-18 changes in law made by this Act apply only to an offense committed
3-19 on or after September 1, 1997. An offense committed before
3-20 September 1, 1997, is covered by the law in effect when the offense
3-21 was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
3-22 purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
3-23 before September 1, 1997, if any element of the offense occurred
3-24 before that date.
3-25 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-27 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.