By:  Shapiro                                           S.B. No. 548

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the punishment for the offense of unlawfully

 1-2     transferring a weapon.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (d), Section 46.06, Penal Code, is

 1-5     amended to read as follows:

 1-6           (d)  An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor,

 1-7     except that an offense under Subsection (a)(2) is a state jail

 1-8     felony if the weapon that is the subject of the offense is a

 1-9     handgun.

1-10           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

1-11     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

1-12     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before

1-13     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs

1-14     before the effective date.

1-15           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

1-16     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

1-17     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

1-18           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-19           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.