By Talton                                              H.B. No. 418
         76R2923 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the applicability of habitual offender punishment
 1-3     provisions to certain defendants convicted of state jail felonies.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 12.42(d), Penal Code, is amended to read
 1-6     as follows:
 1-7           (d)  If it is shown on the trial of a felony offense [other
 1-8     than a state jail felony punishable under Section 12.35(a)] that
 1-9     the defendant has previously been finally convicted of two felony
1-10     offenses, and the second previous felony conviction is for an
1-11     offense that occurred subsequent to the first previous conviction
1-12     having become final, on conviction he shall be punished by
1-13     imprisonment in the institutional division of the Texas Department
1-14     of Criminal Justice for life, or for any term of not more than 99
1-15     years or less than 25 years.
1-16           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
1-17     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
1-18     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
1-19     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
1-20     before the effective date.
1-21           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
1-22     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
1-23     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-24           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-1           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.