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.