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.