By Wilson                                              H.B. No. 915
         76R4703 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the applicability of certain weapons offenses to
 1-3     conservators of the peace.
 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 or other conservators of the peace
 1-9     and neither section prohibits a peace officer or other conservator
1-10     of the peace from carrying a weapon in this state, regardless of
1-11     whether the officer is engaged in the actual discharge of the
1-12     officer's duties while carrying the weapon;
1-13                 (2)  parole officers and neither section prohibits an
1-14     officer from carrying a weapon in this state if the officer is:
1-15                       (A)  engaged in the actual discharge of the
1-16     officer's duties while carrying the weapon; and
1-17                       (B)  in compliance with policies and procedures
1-18     adopted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice regarding the
1-19     possession of a weapon by an officer while on duty;
1-20                 (3)  community supervision and corrections department
1-21     officers appointed or employed under Section 76.004, Government
1-22     Code, and neither section prohibits an officer from carrying a
1-23     weapon in this state if the officer is:
1-24                       (A)  engaged in the actual discharge of the
 2-1     officer's duties while carrying the weapon; and
 2-2                       (B)  authorized to carry a weapon under Section
 2-3     76.0051, Government Code; or
 2-4                 (4)  a judge or justice of the supreme court, the court
 2-5     of criminal appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a
 2-6     criminal district court, a constitutional county court, a statutory
 2-7     county court, a justice court, or a municipal court who is licensed
 2-8     to carry a concealed handgun under Subchapter H, Chapter 411,
 2-9     Government Code [Article 4413(29ee), Revised Statutes].
2-10           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-11           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.