By Burnam                                              H.B. No. 201
         76R710 JMC-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the punishment for the offense of deadly conduct
 1-3     involving a firearm.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 22.05(e), Penal Code, is amended to read
 1-6     as follows:
 1-7           (e)  An offense under Subsection (a) is a Class A
 1-8     misdemeanor.  An offense under Subsection (b) is a felony of the
 1-9     first [third] degree.
1-10           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
1-11     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
1-12     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
1-13     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
1-14     before that date.
1-15           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
1-16     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
1-17     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-18           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-19           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.