By Homer                                              H.B. No. 2227
         76R7908 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the punishment for certain offenses under the Texas
 1-3     Controlled Substances Act by a person using a minor to facilitate
 1-4     the commission of the offense.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 481, Health and Safety
 1-7     Code, is amended by adding Section 481.1221 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 481.1221.  DELIVERY OFFENSE FACILITATED BY MINOR.
 1-9     Notwithstanding any other section of this chapter, a defendant
1-10     convicted of an offense involving the delivery of a controlled
1-11     substance shall be punished by imprisonment in the institutional
1-12     division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life if
1-13     the defendant is convicted because under the provisions of Section
1-14     7.02(a)(1), Penal Code, the defendant is criminally responsible for
1-15     the conduct of another, and the person for whom the defendant is
1-16     criminally responsible was a child younger than 17 years of age at
1-17     the time of the commission of the offense.
1-18           SECTION 2.  Section 508.145(a), Government Code, is amended
1-19     to read as follows:
1-20           (a)  An inmate under sentence of death or an inmate serving a
1-21     life sentence under Section 481.1221, Health and Safety Code, is
1-22     not eligible for release on parole.
1-23           SECTION 3.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
1-24     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
 2-1     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
 2-2     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
 2-3     before the effective date.
 2-4           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
 2-5     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
 2-6     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-7           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-8           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.