By Harris                                              S.B. No. 617
         76R5586 SMH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the penalty for practicing chiropractic without a
 1-3     license.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 5a(c), Chapter 94, Acts of the 51st
 1-6     Legislature, Regular Session, 1949 (Article 4512b, Vernon's Texas
 1-7     Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
 1-8           (c)  A person who violates this section commits an offense.
 1-9     An offense under this section is a state jail felony [Class A
1-10     misdemeanor].  If it is shown at a trial of an offense under this
1-11     section that the defendant has previously been convicted under this
1-12     section, the offense is a felony of the third degree.  Each day of
1-13     violation constitutes a separate offense.
1-14           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
1-15     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
1-16     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
1-17     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
1-18     before that date.
1-19           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
1-20     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
1-21     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 2-3     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 2-4     passage, and it is so enacted.