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.