By Garcia                                              H.B. No. 655
         76R2883 PEP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the penalty for evading arrest or detention.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 38.04(b), Penal Code, is amended to read
 1-5     as follows:
 1-6           (b)  An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor,
 1-7     except that the offense is:
 1-8                 (1)  a state jail felony [Class A misdemeanor] if the
 1-9     actor uses a vehicle while the actor is in flight and the actor has
1-10     not been previously convicted under this section;
1-11                 (2)  a [state jail] felony of the third degree if:
1-12                       (A)  the actor uses a vehicle while the actor is
1-13     in flight and the actor has been previously convicted under this
1-14     section; or
1-15                       (B) [(3)  a felony of the third degree if]
1-16     another suffers serious bodily injury as a direct result of an
1-17     attempt by the officer from whom the actor is fleeing to apprehend
1-18     the actor while the actor is in flight; or
1-19                 (3) [(4)]  a felony of the second degree if another
1-20     suffers death as a direct result of an attempt by the officer from
1-21     whom the actor is fleeing to apprehend the actor while the actor is
1-22     in flight.
1-23           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
1-24     to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
 2-1     An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
 2-2     covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and
 2-3     the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.  For
 2-4     purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
 2-5     effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
 2-6     before that date.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-8           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.