By Jones of Brazos                                    H.B. No. 2323
         76R5612 PEP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the applicability of the offense of unlawfully carrying
 1-3     a weapon to certain persons carrying a handgun in a motor vehicle.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Section 46.15, Penal Code, is amended by adding
 1-6     Subsections (e) and (f) to read as follows:
 1-7           (e)  The provision of Section 46.02 prohibiting the carrying
 1-8     of a handgun does not apply to a person who at the time of the
 1-9     commission of the offense:
1-10                 (1)  was at least 21 years of age;
1-11                 (2)  had not previously been convicted of a felony and
1-12     was not serving a period of community supervision in connection
1-13     with a felony;
1-14                 (3)  was carrying a concealed handgun in a motor
1-15     vehicle that the person was operating; and
1-16                 (4)  had an established procedure for securing the
1-17     handgun in the vehicle in a locked container or storage compartment
1-18     or for temporarily rendering the handgun inoperable by a trigger
1-19     lock or other means at any time the person was not in the vehicle.
1-20           (f)  In this section:
1-21                 (1)  "Motor vehicle" has the meaning assigned by
1-22     Section 32.34(a).
1-23                 (2)  "Concealed handgun" has the meaning assigned by
1-24     Section 411.171, Government Code.
 2-1           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
 2-2     to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
 2-3     An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
 2-4     covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and
 2-5     the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.  For
 2-6     purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
 2-7     effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
 2-8     before that date.
 2-9           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-10           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.