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.

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