By Wise                                                H.B. No. 293
         76R2289 KEL-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the statute of limitations for purposes of prosecutions
 1-3     of certain sexual offenses committed against children.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Article 12.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           Art. 12.01.  FELONIES.  Except as provided in Article 12.03,
 1-8     felony indictments may be presented within these limits,  and not
 1-9     afterward:
1-10                 (1)  no limitation:  murder and manslaughter;
1-11                 (2)  ten years from the date of the commission of the
1-12     offense:
1-13                       (A)  theft of any estate, real, personal or
1-14     mixed, by an executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, with
1-15     intent to defraud any creditor, heir, legatee, ward, distributee,
1-16     beneficiary or settlor of a trust interested in such estate;
1-17                       (B)  theft by a public servant of government
1-18     property over which he exercises control in his official capacity;
1-19     or
1-20                       (C)  forgery or the uttering, using or passing of
1-21     forged instruments;
1-22                       [(D)  indecency with a child under Section
1-23     21.11(a)(2), Penal Code;]
1-24                 (3)  seven years from the date of the commission of the
 2-1     offense:
 2-2                       (A)  misapplication of fiduciary property or
 2-3     property of a financial institution; or
 2-4                       (B)  securing execution of document by deception;
 2-5                 (4)  five years from the date of the commission of the
 2-6     offense:
 2-7                       (A)  theft, burglary, robbery;
 2-8                       (B)  arson; or
 2-9                       (C)  sexual assault, except as provided in
2-10     Subsection (5) of this article;
2-11                 (5)  ten years from the 16th [18th] birthday of the
2-12     victim of the offense:
2-13                       (A)  indecency with a child under Section
2-14     21.11(a)(1) or (2), Penal Code;
2-15                       (B)  sexual assault under Section 22.011(a)(2),
2-16     Penal Code; or
2-17                       (C)  aggravated sexual assault under Section
2-18     22.021(a)(1)(B), Penal Code; and
2-19                 (6)  three years from the date of the commission of the
2-20     offense:  all other felonies.
2-21           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.  The
2-22     change in law made by this Act does not apply to an offense if the
2-23     prosecution of that offense became barred by limitation before the
2-24     effective date of this Act.  The prosecution of that offense
2-25     remains barred as if this Act had not taken effect.
2-26           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.