By Shapiro S.B. No. 1830 76R10234 GWK-F A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the prosecution and punishment of certain domestic 1-3 violence offenses. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Section 22.01(b), Penal Code, is amended to read 1-6 as follows: 1-7 (b) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A 1-8 misdemeanor, except that the offense is: 1-9 (1) a felony of the third degree if the offense is 1-10 committed against: 1-11 (A) a person the actor knows is a public servant 1-12 while the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty, 1-13 or in retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or 1-14 performance of an official duty as a public servant; or 1-15 (B) a family member and the offense was 1-16 committed in the presence of another family member who was at the 1-17 time of the commission of the offense a child younger than 17 years 1-18 of age; or 1-19 (2) a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of 1-20 the offense that the offense was committed against a family member 1-21 and that the defendant has been previously convicted of an offense 1-22 against a family member under this section two or more times. 1-23 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies 1-24 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this 2-1 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before 2-2 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs 2-3 before the effective date. 2-4 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this 2-5 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, 2-6 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. 2-7 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999. 2-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the 2-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.