By Shapiro                                            S.B. No. 1631
         76R3530 JD-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the penalty for driving while a driver's license is
 1-3     invalid.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 521.457, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-6     by amending Subsections (e) and (f), redesignating Subsection (g)
 1-7     as Subsection (h), and adding a new Subsection (g) to read as
 1-8     follows:
 1-9           (e)  Except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (f) and
1-10     (g), an offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by:
1-11                 (1)  a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500;
1-12     and
1-13                 (2)  confinement in county jail for a term of not less
1-14     than 72 hours or more than six months.
1-15           (f)  If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this
1-16     section that the person has previously been convicted of an offense
1-17     under this section or Section 601.371(a), the offense is a Class A
1-18     misdemeanor.  This subsection does not apply to an offense
1-19     punishable under Subsection (g).
1-20           (g)  An offense under this section is a state jail felony if
1-21     it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person's driver's
1-22     license was suspended for:
1-23                 (1)  an offense under Section 49.04, Penal Code, for
1-24     which the person was punished under Section 49.09(b) of that code;
 2-1     or
 2-2                 (2)  an offense under Section 49.07 or 49.08 of that
 2-3     code.
 2-4           (h) [(g)]  For purposes of this section, a conviction for an
 2-5     offense that involves operation of a motor vehicle after August 31,
 2-6     1987, is a final conviction, regardless of whether the sentence for
 2-7     the conviction is probated.
 2-8           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.  The
 2-9     change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed
2-10     on or after September 1, 1999.  An offense committed before
2-11     September 1, 1999, is covered by the law in effect when the offense
2-12     was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
2-13     purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
2-14     before September 1, 1999, if any element of the offense occurred
2-15     before that date.
2-16           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.