By Pitts                                                H.B. No. 41
         76R289 DAK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the age at which a person may be punished by death for
 1-3     a capital offense.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 8.07(c), Penal Code, is amended to read
 1-6     as follows:
 1-7           (c)  No person may, in any case, be punished by death for an
 1-8     offense committed while he was younger than 16 [17] years.
 1-9           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-10           (b)  This Act applies only to conduct that occurs on or after
1-11     the effective date of this Act.  Conduct violating the penal law of
1-12     this state occurs on or after the effective date of this Act if any
1-13     element of the violation occurs on or after that date.
1-14           (c)  Conduct that occurs before the effective date of this
1-15     Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the conduct
1-16     occurred, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-17           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.