By Nelson                                               S.B. No. 24
         76R1935 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the prosecution and punishment of certain domestic
 1-3     violence offenses.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 22.01, Penal Code, is amended by amending
 1-6     Subsections (b) and (e) and by adding Subsection (f) to read as
 1-7     follows:
 1-8           (b)  An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
 1-9     misdemeanor, except that the offense is[:]
1-10                 [(1)]  a felony of the third degree if the offense is
1-11     committed against:
1-12                 (1)  a person the actor knows is a public servant while
1-13     the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty, or in
1-14     retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or
1-15     performance of an official duty as a public servant; or
1-16                 (2)  [a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial
1-17     of the offense that the offense was committed against] a family
1-18     member, if it is shown on the trial of the offense [and] that the
1-19     defendant has been previously convicted of an offense against a
1-20     family member under this section or Section 22.03 [two or more
1-21     times].
1-22           (e)  In this section, "family" has the meaning assigned by
1-23     Section 71.003 [71.01], Family Code.
1-24           (f)  For the purposes of this section, a defendant has been
 2-1     previously convicted of an offense against a family member under
 2-2     this section or an offense under Section 22.03 if the defendant was
 2-3     adjudged guilty of the offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo
 2-4     contendere in return for a grant of deferred adjudication,
 2-5     regardless of whether the sentence for the offense was ever imposed
 2-6     or whether the sentence was probated and the defendant was
 2-7     subsequently discharged from community supervision.
 2-8           SECTION 2.  Chapter 22, Penal Code, is amended by adding
 2-9     Section 22.03 to read as follows:
2-10           Sec. 22.03.  FAMILY VIOLENCE COMMITTED WITHIN VIEW OF CHILD.
2-11     (a)  In this section:
2-12                 (1)  "Child" means a person younger than 17 years of
2-13     age.
2-14                 (2)  "Family" has the meaning assigned by Section
2-15     71.003, Family Code.
2-16           (b)  A person commits an offense if the person commits
2-17     assault as defined in Section 22.01(a)(1) or (a)(2) against a
2-18     family member and another member of the family who is a child
2-19     witnesses the commission of the offense.
2-20           (c)  An offense under this section is:
2-21                 (1)  a state jail felony if the assault is defined in
2-22     Section 22.01(a)(1); or
2-23                 (2)  a Class B misdemeanor if the assault is defined in
2-24     Section 22.01(a)(2).
2-25           SECTION 3.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
2-26     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
2-27     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
 3-1     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
 3-2     before the effective date.
 3-3           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
 3-4     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
 3-5     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 3-6           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-7           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.