HBA-SEP H.B. 1854 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1854 By: Dunnam Criminal Jurisprudence 4/6/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law provides that the penalty for a person who operates a motor vehicle on a highway in this state without a driver's license is not to exceed $200. Increasing the maximum penalty for such an offense committed by a defendant who, within the year preceding the date of the offense, committed an offense for which the defendant's driver's license could have been suspended may reduce the number of such offenses. House Bill 1854 increases the maximum penalty. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1854 amends the Transportation Code to provide that, if at the trial of a person accused of operating a vehicle without a driver's license it is shown that, within the year preceding the date of the offense for which the defendant is being tried, the defendant was convicted of an offense for which the defendant's driver's license could have been suspended the offense is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500, confinement in county jail for a term of not less than 72 hours or more than six months, or both the fine and the confinement. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.