By Dunnam H.B. No. 3496 Line and page numbers may not match official copy. Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E. A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the penalties for driving without a license. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Section 521.021, Transportation Code, is amended 1-5 to read as follows: 1-6 Sec. 521.021. LICENSE REQUIRED. (a) A person, other than a 1-7 person expressly exempted under this chapter, may not operate a 1-8 motor vehicle on a highway in this state unless the person holds a 1-9 driver's license issued under this chapter. 1-10 (b) A person commits an offense if the person violates 1-11 Subsection (a). Except as provided by Subsection (c), an offense 1-12 under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to 1-13 exceed $200. 1-14 (c) If it is shown at the trial of the offense under this 1-15 section that the person has been in the year preceding the date of 1-16 the offense convicted of an offense for which a person's driver's 1-17 license could have been suspended, an offense under this section is 1-18 a misdemeanor punishable by: 1-19 (1) a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500; 1-20 and 1-21 (2) confinement in county jail for a term of not less 2-1 than 72 hours or more than six months. 2-2 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and 2-3 applies only to an offense that occurs on or after that date. An 2-4 offense that occurs before that date is covered by the law in 2-5 effect at the time the offense was committed, and the former law is 2-6 continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this 2-7 section, an offense is committed before the effective date of this 2-8 Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date. 2-9 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-13 days in each house is suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.