By Coleman                                            H.B. No. 3528
         76R6428(1) PEP                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the places where certain private investigators may
 1-3     carry a concealed handgun.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 30.06, Penal Code, is amended by adding
 1-6     Subsection (e) to read as follows:
 1-7           (e)  It is a defense to prosecution for an offense under this
 1-8     section that:
 1-9                 (1)  the property on which the offense occurred was
1-10     government property; and
1-11                 (2)  at the time of the commission of the offense, the
1-12     license holder was a private investigator licensed under the
1-13     Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act (Article
1-14     4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) and was engaged in
1-15     providing services as a private investigator.
1-16           SECTION 2.  Section 46.035, Penal Code, is amended by adding
1-17     Subsection (j) to read as follows:
1-18           (j)  It is a defense to prosecution for an offense under
1-19     Subsection (b)(3) that at the time of the commission of the
1-20     offense, the license holder  was a private investigator licensed
1-21     under the Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act
1-22     (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) who carried a
1-23     handgun only on that portion of the premises of a correctional
1-24     facility that is inaccessible to inmates.
1-25           SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
1-26     to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
 2-1     An  offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
 2-2     covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and
 2-3     the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.  For
 2-4     purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
 2-5     effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
 2-6     before that date.
 2-7           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-8           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.