76R11511 GWK-D                           
         By Hupp                                                H.B. No. 305
         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 305:
         By Turner of Coleman                               C.S.H.B. No. 305
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the applicability to judicial officers of certain
 1-3     prohibitions against the carrying of handguns or other weapons.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 46.15(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
 1-6     as follows: 
 1-7           (a)  Sections 46.02 and 46.03 do not apply to:
 1-8                 (1)  peace officers and neither section prohibits a
 1-9     peace officer from carrying a weapon in this state, regardless of
1-10     whether the officer is engaged in the actual discharge of the
1-11     officer's duties while carrying the weapon;
1-12                 (2)  parole officers and neither section prohibits an
1-13     officer from carrying a weapon in this state if the officer is:
1-14                       (A)  engaged in the actual discharge of the
1-15     officer's duties while carrying the weapon; and
1-16                       (B)  in compliance with policies and procedures
1-17     adopted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice regarding the
1-18     possession of a weapon by an officer while on duty;
1-19                 (3)  community supervision and corrections department
1-20     officers appointed or employed under Section 76.004, Government
1-21     Code, and neither section prohibits an officer from carrying a
1-22     weapon in this state if the officer is:
1-23                       (A)  engaged in the actual discharge of the
1-24     officer's duties while carrying the weapon; and
 2-1                       (B)  authorized to carry a weapon under  Section
 2-2     76.0051, Government Code; or
 2-3                 (4)  a federal magistrate or judge or a judge or
 2-4     justice of the supreme court, the court of criminal appeals, a
 2-5     court of appeals, a district court, a criminal district court, a
 2-6     constitutional county court, a statutory county court, a justice
 2-7     court, or a municipal court, and neither section prohibits a
 2-8     magistrate, judge, or justice from carrying a weapon in this state,
 2-9     regardless of  whether the magistrate, judge, or justice is engaged
2-10     in the actual discharge of duties while carrying the weapon [who is
2-11     licensed to carry  a concealed handgun under Article 4413(29ee),
2-12     Revised Statutes].
2-13           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
2-14     only to the prosecution of an offense committed on or after the
2-15     effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this section, an
2-16     offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any
2-17     element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
2-18           (b)  The prosecution of an offense committed before the
2-19     effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
2-20     offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect
2-21     for that purpose.
2-22           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-23           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-27     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.