By Homer H.B. No. 2404
76R7779 PEP-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the punishment for assaults committed against certain
1-3 sports officials.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 22.01(b), (c), and (e), Penal Code, are
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (b) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
1-8 misdemeanor, except that the offense is:
1-9 (1) a felony of the third degree if the offense is
1-10 committed against a person the actor knows is a public servant
1-11 while the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty,
1-12 or in retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or
1-13 performance of an official duty as a public servant; or
1-14 (2) a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of
1-15 the offense that:
1-16 (A) the offense was committed against a family
1-17 member and that the defendant has been previously convicted of an
1-18 offense against a family member under this section two or more
1-19 times; or
1-20 (B) the offense is committed against a person
1-21 the actor knows is a sports official and is committed while the
1-22 official is performing duties in the official's capacity as a
1-23 sports official or is committed in retaliation for or on account of
1-24 the official's performance of a duty within the official's capacity
2-1 as a sports official.
2-2 (c) An offense under Subsection (a)(2) or (3) is a Class C
2-3 misdemeanor, except that:
2-4 (1) an offense under Subsection (a)(2) or (3) is a
2-5 Class A misdemeanor if the offense is committed against a person
2-6 the actor knows is a sports official and is committed while the
2-7 official is performing duties in the official's capacity as a
2-8 sports official or is committed in retaliation for or on account of
2-9 the official's performance of a duty within the official's capacity
2-10 as a sports official; and
2-11 (2) an offense under Subsection (a)(3) is a Class A
2-12 misdemeanor if the offense was committed against an elderly
2-13 individual or disabled individual, as those terms are defined by
2-14 Section 22.04.
2-15 (e) In this section:
2-16 (1) "Family" [, "family"] has the meaning assigned by
2-17 Section 71.003 [71.01], Family Code.
2-18 (2) "Sports official" means a person who serves in any
2-19 official capacity with respect to an interscholastic,
2-20 intercollegiate, or other organized amateur or professional
2-21 athletic competition and includes a referee, umpire, linesman,
2-22 coach, instructor, administrator, or staff member.
2-23 SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
2-24 to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
2-25 An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
2-26 covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and
2-27 the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
3-1 purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
3-2 effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
3-3 before that date.
3-4 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-5 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.