By Clark                                                H.B. No. 48
         76R290 JMC-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the punishment for theft committed against elderly
 1-3     individuals.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 31.01, Penal Code, is amended by adding
 1-6     Subdivision (10) to read as follows:
 1-7                 (10)  "Elderly individual" has the meaning assigned by
 1-8     Section 22.04(c).
 1-9           SECTION 2.  Section 31.03(f), Penal Code, is amended to read
1-10     as follows:
1-11           (f)  An offense described for purposes of punishment by
1-12     Subsections (e)(1)-(6) is increased to the next higher category of
1-13     offense if it is shown on the trial of the offense that:
1-14                 (1)  the actor was a public servant at the time of the
1-15     offense and the property appropriated came into the actor's
1-16     custody, possession, or control by virtue of his status as a public
1-17     servant; [or]
1-18                 (2)  the actor was in a contractual relationship with
1-19     government at the time of the offense and the property appropriated
1-20     came into the actor's custody, possession, or control by virtue of
1-21     the contractual relationship; or
1-22                 (3)  the owner of the property appropriated was at the
1-23     time of the offense an elderly individual.
1-24           SECTION 3.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
 2-1     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
 2-2     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
 2-3     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
 2-4     before that date.
 2-5           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
 2-6     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
 2-7     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-8           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-9           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.