By Nixon                                         S.B. No. 916

      75R4825 PEP-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

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

 1-3     intoxication manslaughter.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 49.08(b), Penal Code, is amended to read

 1-6     as follows:

 1-7           (b)  Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, an [An]

 1-8     offense under this section is a felony of the second degree.  An

 1-9     offense under this section is a felony of the first degree if:

1-10                 (1)  the person has previously been convicted of an

1-11     offense relating to the operating of a motor vehicle while

1-12     intoxicated, an offense of operating an aircraft while intoxicated,

1-13     or an offense of operating a watercraft while intoxicated, as those

1-14     offenses are defined by Section 49.09; and

1-15                 (2)  the victim of the offense is a person younger than

1-16     15 years of age.

1-17           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.  The

1-18     change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed

1-19     on or after September 1, 1997.  An offense committed before

1-20     September 1, 1997, is covered by the law in effect when the offense

1-21     was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that

1-22     purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed

1-23     before September 1, 1997, if any element of the offense occurred

1-24     before that date.

 2-1           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.