By:  Harris                                            S.B. No. 143

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the punishment for the offense of cruelty to animals.

 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-3           SECTION 1.  Subsection (d), Section 42.09, Penal Code, is

 1-4     amended to read as follows:

 1-5           (d)  An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor,

 1-6     except that the offense is a state jail felony if the person has

 1-7     previously been convicted two times under this section.

 1-8           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

 1-9     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

1-10     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed  before

1-11     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs

1-12     before that date.

1-13           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

1-14     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

1-15     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

1-16           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-17           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.