By Ellis                                              H.B. No. 1713
         76R7217 GWK-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the harassment of employees of the Texas Department of
 1-3     Criminal Justice by individuals under the custody or supervision of
 1-4     the department; creating an offense.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Chapter 22, Penal Code, is amended by adding
 1-7     Section 22.11 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 22.11.  HARASSMENT OF CERTAIN CORRECTIONS EMPLOYEES.
 1-9     (a)  A person commits an offense if the person, while imprisoned or
1-10     confined in a  correctional facility operated by or under contract
1-11     with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and with intent to
1-12     harass, alarm, or annoy an employee of the department, causes the
1-13     employee to contact the blood, seminal fluid, urine, or feces of a
1-14     person other than the employee.
1-15           (b)  An offense under this section is a felony of the third
1-16     degree.
1-17           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
1-18     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
1-19     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
1-20     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
1-21     before the effective date.
1-22           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
1-23     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
1-24     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-1           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-2           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.