1-1     By:  West (Senate Sponsor - Gallegos)                  H.B. No. 243
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 19, 1999;
 1-3     April 20, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Criminal Justice; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to authorizing peace officers to administer certain oaths.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 602.002, Government Code, is amended to
1-11     read as follows:
1-12           Sec. 602.002.  OATH MADE IN TEXAS.  An oath made in this
1-13     state may be administered and a certificate of the fact given by:
1-14                 (1)  a judge, clerk, or commissioner of a court of
1-15     record;
1-16                 (2)  a justice of the peace or a clerk of a justice
1-17     court;
1-18                 (3)  a notary public;
1-19                 (4)  a member of a board or commission created by a law
1-20     of this state, in a matter pertaining to a duty of the board or
1-21     commission;
1-22                 (5)  a person employed by the Texas Ethics Commission
1-23     who has a duty related to a report required by Title 15, Election
1-24     Code, in a matter pertaining to that duty;
1-25                 (6)  a county tax assessor-collector or an employee of
1-26     the county tax assessor-collector if the oath relates to a document
1-27     that is required or authorized to be filed in the office of the
1-28     county tax assessor-collector;
1-29                 (7)  a peace officer described by Article 2.12, Code of
1-30     Criminal Procedure, if:
1-31                       (A)  the oath is administered when the officer is
1-32     engaged in the performance of the officer's duties; and
1-33                       (B)  the administration of the oath relates to
1-34     the officer's duties;
1-35                 (8)  the secretary of state;
1-36                 (9) [(8)]  the lieutenant governor;
1-37                 (10) [(9)]  the speaker of the house of
1-38     representatives; or
1-39                 (11) [(10)]  the governor.
1-40           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-41     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-42     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-43     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-44     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-45     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-46     passage, and it is so enacted.
1-47                                  * * * * *