1-1 By: Pickett, Dukes, Swinford H.B. No. 152 1-2 (Senate Sponsor - Shapleigh) 1-3 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 1999; 1-4 April 27, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on 1-5 Criminal Justice; April 30, 1999, reported favorably by the 1-6 following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; April 30, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-8 AN ACT 1-9 relating to the punishment for the offense of graffiti. 1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-11 SECTION 1. Section 28.08(d), Penal Code, is amended to read 1-12 as follows: 1-13 (d) An offense under this section is a state jail felony if: 1-14 (1) the marking is made on a school, an institution of 1-15 higher education, a place of worship or human burial, a public 1-16 monument, or a community center that provides medical, social, or 1-17 educational programs; and 1-18 (2) the amount of the pecuniary loss to real property 1-19 or to tangible personal property is less than $20,000. 1-20 SECTION 2. Section 28.08(e), Penal Code, is amended by 1-21 adding Subdivisions (3) and (4) to read as follows: 1-22 (3) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning 1-23 assigned by Section 481.134, Health and Safety Code. 1-24 (4) "School" means a private or public elementary or 1-25 secondary school. 1-26 SECTION 3. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies 1-27 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this 1-28 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed on or 1-29 after the effective date of this Act if every element of the 1-30 offense occurs on or after the effective date. 1-31 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this 1-32 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, 1-33 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. 1-34 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999. 1-35 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the 1-36 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-37 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-38 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-39 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended. 1-40 * * * * *