By Crabb                                              H.B. No. 2231
         76R8301 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 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           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
1-20     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
1-21     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
1-22     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
1-23     before the effective date.
1-24           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
 2-1     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
 2-2     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-3           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-4           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.