By Naishtat                                            H.B. No. 155
         76R528 KEL-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the punishment for certain assaultive offenses
 1-3     involving domestic violence.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Sections 22.01(b) and (e), Penal Code, are
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
 1-8     misdemeanor, except that the offense is:
 1-9                 (1)  a felony of the third degree if the offense is
1-10     committed against a person the actor knows is a public servant
1-11     while the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty,
1-12     or in retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or
1-13     performance of an official duty as a public servant; or
1-14                 (2)  a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of
1-15     the offense that the offense was committed against a family member
1-16     and that:
1-17                       (A)  the defendant has been previously convicted
1-18     of an offense against a family member under this section two or
1-19     more times; or
1-20                       (B)  a child who is a member of the victim's
1-21     household witnessed the offense.
1-22           (e)  In this section:
1-23                 (1)  "Child" means a person younger than 17 years of
1-24     age.
 2-1                 (2)  "Family" and "household" have [, "family" has] the
 2-2     meanings [meaning] assigned by Chapter 71 [Section 71.01], Family
 2-3     Code.
 2-4                 (3)  "Member of the victim's household" includes a
 2-5     person who previously lived in the victim's household.
 2-6           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
 2-7     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
 2-8     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
 2-9     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-10     before that date.
2-11           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-12     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-13     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-14           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-15           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.