1-1 By: Harris S.B. No. 143 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed December 16, 1996; January 14, 1997, 1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; 1-4 April 1, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee 1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 1, 1997, 1-6 sent to printer.) 1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 143 By: Patterson 1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-9 AN ACT 1-10 relating to the punishment for the offense of cruelty to animals. 1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-12 SECTION 1. Subsection (d), Section 42.09, Penal Code, is 1-13 amended to read as follows: 1-14 (d) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor, 1-15 except that the offense is a state jail felony if the person has 1-16 previously been convicted two times under this section. 1-17 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies 1-18 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this 1-19 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before 1-20 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs 1-21 before that date. 1-22 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this 1-23 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, 1-24 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. 1-25 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997. 1-26 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the 1-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-28 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-29 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-30 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended. 1-31 * * * * *