1-1 By: Nelson S.B. No. 24
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed November 9, 1998; January 26, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
1-4 March 1, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; March 1, 1999,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 24 By: Nelson
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the prosecution and punishment of certain domestic
1-11 violence offenses.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Section 22.01, Penal Code, is amended by amending
1-14 Subsections (b) and (e) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
1-15 follows:
1-16 (b) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
1-17 misdemeanor, except that the offense is[:]
1-18 [(1)] a felony of the third degree if the offense is
1-19 committed against:
1-20 (1) a person the actor knows is a public servant while
1-21 the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty, or in
1-22 retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or
1-23 performance of an official duty as a public servant; or
1-24 (2) a [state jail felony if it is shown on the trial
1-25 of the offense that the offense was committed against a family]
1-26 member of the defendant's family or household, if it is shown on
1-27 the trial of the offense [and] that the defendant has been
1-28 previously convicted of an offense against a [family] member of the
1-29 defendant's family or household under this section [two or more
1-30 times].
1-31 (e) In this section:
1-32 (1) "family"[, "family"] has the meaning assigned by
1-33 Section 71.003 [71.01], Family Code.
1-34 (2) "Household" has the meaning assigned by Section
1-35 71.005, Family Code.
1-36 (f) For the purposes of this section, a defendant has been
1-37 previously convicted of an offense against a member of the
1-38 defendant's family or a member of the defendant's household under
1-39 this section if the defendant was adjudged guilty of the offense or
1-40 entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for a grant
1-41 of deferred adjudication, regardless of whether the sentence for
1-42 the offense was ever imposed or whether the sentence was probated
1-43 and the defendant was subsequently discharged from community
1-44 supervision.
1-45 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
1-46 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
1-47 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
1-48 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
1-49 before the effective date.
1-50 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
1-51 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
1-52 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-53 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-54 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-55 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-56 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-57 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-58 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-59 * * * * *