By: Nelson, et al. S.B. No. 24
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the prosecution and punishment of certain domestic
1-2 violence offenses.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 22.01, Penal Code, is amended by amending
1-5 Subsections (b) and (e) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
1-6 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:
1-11 (1) a person the actor knows is a public servant while
1-12 the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty, or in
1-13 retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or
1-14 performance of an official duty as a public servant; or
1-15 (2) a [state jail felony if it is shown on the trial
1-16 of the offense that the offense was committed against a family]
1-17 member of the defendant's family or household, if it is shown on
1-18 the trial of the offense [and] that the defendant has been
1-19 previously convicted of an offense against a [family] member of the
1-20 defendant's family or household under this section [two or more
1-21 times].
1-22 (e) In this section:
1-23 (1) "Family"[, "family"] has the meaning assigned by
1-24 Section 71.003 [71.01], Family Code.
2-1 (2) "Household" has the meaning assigned by Section
2-2 71.005, Family Code.
2-3 (f) For the purposes of this section, a defendant has been
2-4 previously convicted of an offense against a member of the
2-5 defendant's family or a member of the defendant's household under
2-6 this section if the defendant was adjudged guilty of the offense or
2-7 entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for a grant
2-8 of deferred adjudication, regardless of whether the sentence for
2-9 the offense was ever imposed or whether the sentence was probated
2-10 and the defendant was subsequently discharged from community
2-11 supervision.
2-12 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
2-13 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
2-14 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
2-15 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-16 before the effective date.
2-17 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-18 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-19 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-20 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-21 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.