By Lucio                                               S.B. No. 559
         76R4998 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the punishment for the offense of injury to a child.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 22.04(e), Penal Code, is amended to read
 1-5     as follows:
 1-6           (e)  An offense under Subsection (a)(1) or (2) is a felony of
 1-7     the first degree when the conduct is committed intentionally or
 1-8     knowingly.  When the conduct is engaged in recklessly it shall be a
 1-9     felony of the second degree, unless the victim of the offense is a
1-10     child younger than six years of age, in which event the offense is
1-11     a felony of the first degree.
1-12           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
1-13     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
1-14     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
1-15     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
1-16     before the effective date.
1-17           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
1-18     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
1-19     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-20           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-21           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.