By Ellis S.B. No. 1329
75R7346 JMM-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the offense of interfering with child custody.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 25.03, Penal Code, is amended by amending
1-5 Subsection (d) and adding Subsections (e)-(g) to read as follows:
1-6 (d) Except as provided by Subsection (e) or (f), an [An]
1-7 offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor [state jail
1-8 felony].
1-9 (e) An offense under Subsection (a)(2) is a state jail
1-10 felony.
1-11 (f) If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this
1-12 section that the defendant has been convicted of an offense under
1-13 this section on not less than two previous occasions, on conviction
1-14 of the defendant, the offense shall be punished as a state jail
1-15 felony.
1-16 (g) A peace officer who is charging a person with committing
1-17 an offense under Subsection (a)(1) may, instead of taking the
1-18 person before a magistrate, issue a citation to the person that
1-19 contains written notice of the time and place the person must
1-20 appear before a magistrate, the name and address of the person
1-21 charged, and the offense charged.
1-22 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
1-23 (b) The change in law made by this Act applies only to an
1-24 offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. For
2-1 purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the
2-2 effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-3 before the effective date.
2-4 (c) An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-5 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-6 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-7 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.