By Brown                                                S.B. No. 70
         76R1396 KEL-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the statute of limitations for the purpose of
 1-3     prosecuting certain offenses under the Tax Code.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Article 12.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           Art. 12.01.  FELONIES.  Except as provided in Article 12.03,
 1-8     felony indictments may be presented within these limits, and not
 1-9     afterward:
1-10                 (1)  no limitation:  murder and manslaughter;
1-11                 (2)  ten years from the date of the commission of the
1-12     offense:
1-13                       (A)  theft of any estate, real, personal or
1-14     mixed, by an executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, with
1-15     intent to defraud any creditor, heir, legatee, ward, distributee,
1-16     beneficiary or settlor of a trust interested in such estate;
1-17                       (B)  theft by a public servant of government
1-18     property over which he exercises control in his official capacity;
1-19                       (C)  forgery or the uttering, using or passing of
1-20     forged instruments; or
1-21                       (D)  indecency with a child under Section
1-22     21.11(a)(2), Penal Code;
1-23                 (3)  seven years from the date of the commission of the
1-24     offense:
 2-1                       (A)  misapplication of fiduciary property or
 2-2     property of a financial institution;
 2-3                       (B)  securing execution of document by deception;
 2-4     or
 2-5                       (C)  a violation under Sections 153.403(20)-(33),
 2-6     Tax Code;
 2-7                 (4)  five years from the date of the commission of the
 2-8     offense:
 2-9                       (A)  theft, burglary, robbery;
2-10                       (B)  arson; or
2-11                       (C)  sexual assault, except as provided in
2-12     Subsection (5) of this article;
2-13                 (5)  ten years from the 18th birthday of the victim of
2-14     the offense:
2-15                       (A)  indecency with a child under Section
2-16     21.11(a)(1), Penal Code;
2-17                       (B)  sexual assault under Section 22.011(a)(2),
2-18     Penal Code; or
2-19                       (C)  aggravated sexual assault under Section
2-20     22.021(a)(1)(B), Penal Code; or
2-21                 (6)  three years from the date of the commission of the
2-22     offense:  all other felonies.
2-23           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act does not apply
2-24     to an offense if the prosecution of the offense became barred by
2-25     limitation before the effective date of this Act.  The prosecution
2-26     of that offense remains barred as though this Act had not taken
2-27     effect.
 3-1           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-2           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.