By Shapiro                                       S.B. No. 548

      75R3820 GWK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the punishment for the offense of unlawfully

 1-3     transferring a weapon.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 46.06(d), Penal Code, is amended to read

 1-6     as follows:

 1-7           (d)  An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor,

 1-8     except that an offense under Subsection (a)(2) is a felony of the

 1-9     third degree if the weapon that is the subject of the offense is a

1-10     handgun.

1-11           SECTION 2.   (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

1-12     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

1-13     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before

1-14     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs

1-15     before the effective date.

1-16           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

1-17     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

1-18     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

1-19           SECTION 3.   This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-20           SECTION 4.   The importance of this legislation and the

1-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.