By Naishtat                                           H.B. No. 1234
         76R1934 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the eligibility for release on community supervision or
 1-3     parole for a defendant convicted of aggravated assault.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 3g(a), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal
 1-6     Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  The provisions of Section 3 of this article do not
 1-8     apply:
 1-9                 (1)  to a defendant adjudged guilty of an offense
1-10     under:
1-11                       (A)  Section 19.02, Penal Code (Murder);
1-12                       (B)  Section 19.03, Penal Code (Capital murder);
1-13                       (C)  Section 21.11(a)(1), Penal Code (Indecency
1-14     with a child);
1-15                       (D)  Section 20.04, Penal Code (Aggravated
1-16     kidnapping);
1-17                       (E)  Section 22.021, Penal Code (Aggravated
1-18     sexual assault);
1-19                       (F)  Section 29.03, Penal Code (Aggravated
1-20     robbery);
1-21                       (G)  Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, for
1-22     which punishment is increased under  Section 481.134(c), (d), (e),
1-23     or (f), Health and Safety Code, if it is shown that the defendant
1-24     has been previously convicted of an offense for which punishment
 2-1     was increased under any of those subsections; [or]
 2-2                       (H)  Section 22.011(a)(2), Penal Code (Sexual
 2-3     assault); or
 2-4                       (I)  Section 22.02, Penal Code, (Aggravated
 2-5     assault); or
 2-6                 (2)  to a defendant when it is shown that a deadly
 2-7     weapon as defined in  Section 1.07, Penal Code, was used or
 2-8     exhibited during the commission of a felony offense or during
 2-9     immediate flight therefrom, and that the defendant used or
2-10     exhibited the deadly weapon or was a party to the offense and knew
2-11     that a deadly weapon would be used or exhibited.  On an affirmative
2-12     finding under this subdivision, the trial court shall enter the
2-13     finding in the judgment of the court.  On an affirmative finding
2-14     that the deadly weapon was a firearm, the court shall enter that
2-15     finding in its judgment.
2-16           SECTION 2.  Section 508.145(d), Government Code, is amended
2-17     to read as follows:
2-18           (d)  An inmate serving a sentence for an offense described by
2-19     Section 3g(a)(1)(A), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), [or] (H), or (I),
2-20     Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or for an offense for
2-21     which the judgment contains an affirmative finding  under Section
2-22     3g(a)(2) of that article, is not eligible for release on parole
2-23     until the inmate's actual calendar time served, without
2-24     consideration of good conduct time, equals one-half of the sentence
2-25     or 30 calendar years, whichever is less, but in no event is the
2-26     inmate eligible for release on parole in less than two calendar
2-27     years.
 3-1           SECTION 3.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
 3-2     only to a person convicted of an offense committed on or after the
 3-3     effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this section, an
 3-4     offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any
 3-5     element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
 3-6           (b)  A person convicted of an offense committed before the
 3-7     effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
 3-8     offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect
 3-9     for that purpose.
3-10           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-11           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.