By Cook                                               H.B. No. 1580
         76R6281 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the prosecution and punishment of certain assaultive
 1-3     offenses.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 22, Penal Code, is amended by adding
 1-6     Section 22.012 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 22.012.  FAMILY VIOLENCE.  (a)  In this section,
 1-8     "family" has the meaning assigned by Section 71.003, Family Code.
 1-9           (b)  A person commits an offense if the person, after having
1-10     been convicted of an offense under this chapter, Section 42.07, or
1-11     Section 42.072, commits assault as defined in Section 22.01(a)(1)
1-12     against a member of the person's family.
1-13           (c)  An offense under this section is a state jail felony.
1-14           (d)  If conduct constitutes an offense under this section and
1-15     Section 22.02, the actor must be prosecuted under Section 22.02.
1-16           SECTION 2.  Section 22.01(b), Penal Code, is amended to read
1-17     as follows:
1-18           (b)  An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
1-19     misdemeanor, except that the offense is[:]
1-20                 [(1)]  a felony of the third degree if the offense is
1-21     committed against a person the actor knows is a public servant
1-22     while the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty,
1-23     or in retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or
1-24     performance of an official duty as a public servant[; or]
 2-1                 [(2)  a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial
 2-2     of the offense that the offense was committed against a family
 2-3     member and that the defendant has been previously convicted of an
 2-4     offense against a family member under this section two or more
 2-5     times].
 2-6           SECTION 3.  Section 22.01(e), Penal Code, is repealed.
 2-7           SECTION 4.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
 2-8     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
 2-9     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
2-10     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-11     before the effective date.
2-12           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-13     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-14     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-15           SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-16           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.