By Hupp                                                H.B. No. 305
         76R1104 GWK-D                           
                                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 judge or justice of the supreme court, the court
 2-4     of criminal appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a
 2-5     criminal district court, a constitutional county court, a statutory
 2-6     county court, a justice court, or a municipal court, and neither
 2-7     section prohibits a judge or justice from carrying a weapon in this
 2-8     state, regardless of  whether the judge or justice is engaged in
 2-9     the actual discharge of duties while carrying the weapon [who is
2-10     licensed to carry  a concealed handgun under Article 4413(29ee),
2-11     Revised Statutes].
2-12           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
2-13     only to the prosecution of an offense committed on or after the
2-14     effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this section, an
2-15     offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any
2-16     element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
2-17           (b)  The prosecution of an offense committed before the
2-18     effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
2-19     offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect
2-20     for that purpose.
2-21           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-22           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-25     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-26     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.