1-1           By:  Brown                                       S.B. No. 160

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed December 23, 1996; January 14, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;

 1-4     February 26, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas

 1-5     7, Nays 0; February 26, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to prosecution of the offense of tampering with or

 1-9     fabricating physical evidence; creating an offense.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 37.09, Penal Code, is amended by adding

1-12     Subsection (d) to read as follows:

1-13           (d)  A person commits an offense if, knowing that an offense

1-14     has been committed, he alters, destroys, or conceals any record,

1-15     document, or thing with intent to impair its verity, legibility, or

1-16     availability as evidence in any subsequent investigation of or

1-17     official proceeding related to the offense.

1-18           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

1-19     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

1-20     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before

1-21     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs

1-22     before the effective date.

1-23           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

1-24     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

1-25     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

1-26           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-27           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-28     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-29     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-30     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-31     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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