By Garcia H.B. No. 1763
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the prosecution and punishment of certain domestic
1-3 violence offenses.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 22.01, Penal Code, is amended by amending
1-6 Subsections (b) and (e) and adding Subsections (f), (g), and (h) to
1-7 read as follows:
1-8 (b) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
1-9 misdemeanor, except that the offense is:
1-10 (1) a felony of the third degree if the offense is
1-11 committed against:
1-12 (A) a person the actor knows is a public servant
1-13 while the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty,
1-14 or in retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or
1-15 performance of an official duty as a public servant; or
1-16 (B) [(2) a state jail felony if it is shown on
1-17 the trial of the offense that the offense was committed against] a
1-18 [family] member of the defendant's family or household, if it is
1-19 shown on the trial of the offense [and] that the defendant:
1-20 (i) has been previously convicted of an
1-21 offense against a [family] member of the defendant's family or
1-22 household under this section; or
1-23 (ii) in committing the offense caused the
1-24 death of an unborn child of the member of the family or household;
2-1 or
2-2 (2) a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of
2-3 the offense that the offense was committed in the presence of
2-4 another member of the defendant's family or household who at the
2-5 time of the commission of the offense was a child younger than 17
2-6 years of age [two or more times].
2-7 (e) In this section:
2-8 (1) "Family" [, "family"] has the meaning assigned by
2-9 Section 71.003 [71.01], Family Code.
2-10 (2) "Household" has the meaning assigned by Section
2-11 71.005, Family Code.
2-12 (3) "Death," with respect to an unborn child, means a
2-13 failure to be born alive.
2-14 (4) "Unborn child" means a fetus at every stage of
2-15 gestation in the uterus of the mother from fertilization until
2-16 birth.
2-17 (f) For the purposes of this section, a defendant has been
2-18 previously convicted of an offense against a member of the
2-19 defendant's family or a member of the defendant's household under
2-20 this section if the defendant was adjudged guilty of the offense
2-21 or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for a
2-22 grant of deferred adjudication, regardless of whether the sentence
2-23 for the offense was ever imposed or whether the sentence was
2-24 probated and the defendant was subsequently discharged from
2-25 community supervision.
2-26 (g) The enhancement provided by Subsection (b)(1)(B)(ii)
2-27 does not apply to any act consisting of conduct:
3-1 (1) committed by the mother of the unborn child; or
3-2 (2) that is:
3-3 (A) a medical procedure performed in accordance
3-4 with law by a physician or other licensed health care provider; or
3-5 (B) the dispensation of a drug in accordance
3-6 with law or administration of a drug prescribed in accordance with
3-7 law.
3-8 (h) The enhancement provided by Subsection (b)(1)(B)(ii) may
3-9 not in any manner be construed as establishing fetal personhood.
3-10 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
3-11 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
3-12 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
3-13 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
3-14 before the effective date.
3-15 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
3-16 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
3-17 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
3-18 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-19 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.