1-1     By:  Shapiro                                           S.B. No. 548

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 12, 1997; February 17, 1997,

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

 1-4     April 24, 1997, reported favorably, as amended, by the following

 1-5     vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 24, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6     COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1                              By:  Shapiro

 1-7     Amend S.B. No. 548 on page 1, lines 17-18, by striking "felony of

 1-8     the third degree" and inserting "state jail felony".

 1-9                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

1-10                                   AN ACT

1-11     relating to the punishment for the offense of unlawfully

1-12     transferring a weapon.

1-13           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-14           SECTION 1.  Subsection (d), Section 46.06, Penal Code, is

1-15     amended to read as follows:

1-16           (d)  An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor,

1-17     except that an offense under Subsection (a)(2) is a felony of the

1-18     third degree if the weapon that is the subject of the offense is a

1-19     handgun.

1-20           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

1-21     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

1-22     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before

1-23     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs

1-24     before the effective date.

1-25           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

1-26     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

1-27     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

1-28           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-29           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-30     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-31     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-32     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-33     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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