1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the punishment for the offense of burglary of a rail
 1-3     car.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 30.04, Penal Code, is amended to read as
 1-6     follows:
 1-7           Sec. 30.04.  BURGLARY OF VEHICLES.  (a)  A person commits an
 1-8     offense if, without the effective consent of the owner, he breaks
 1-9     into or enters a vehicle or any part of a vehicle with intent to
1-10     commit any felony or theft.
1-11           (b)  For purposes of this section, "enter" means to intrude:
1-12                 (1)  any part of the body; or
1-13                 (2)  any physical object connected with the body.
1-14           (c)  For purposes of this section, a container or trailer
1-15     carried on a rail car is a part of the rail car.
1-16           (d)  An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor
1-17     unless the vehicle or part of the vehicle broken into or entered is
1-18     a rail car, in which event the offense is a state jail felony.
1-19           (e)  It is a defense to prosecution under this section that
1-20     the actor entered a rail car or any part of a rail car and was at
1-21     that time an employee or a representative of employees exercising a
1-22     right under the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. Section 151 et seq.).
1-23           SECTION 2.  (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 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-8           SECTION 4.  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.
         _______________________________     _______________________________
             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 2231 was passed by the House on May
         13, 1999, by a non-record vote.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 2231 was passed by the Senate on May
         26, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Secretary of the Senate
         APPROVED:  _____________________
                            Date
                    _____________________
                          Governor