By Harris                                        S.B. No. 612

      75R5304 KEL-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to a defense to prosecution for abandoning or endangering

 1-3     a child.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 22.041, Penal Code, is amended by adding

 1-6     Subsection (g) to read as follows:

 1-7           (g)  It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (c) that

 1-8     the act or omission enables the child to practice for or

 1-9     participate in an organized athletic event and that appropriate

1-10     safety equipment and procedures are employed in the event.

1-11           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.  The

1-12     change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed

1-13     on or after September 1, 1997.  An offense committed before

1-14     September 1, 1997, is covered by the law in effect when the offense

1-15     was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that

1-16     purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed

1-17     before September 1, 1997, if any element of the offense occurred

1-18     before that date.

1-19           SECTION 3.  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.