By Reyna of Bexar, Menendez, Villarreal               H.B. No. 1554
         77R6246 GWK-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the punishment of the offense of assault.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1. Sections 22.01(b) and (f), Penal Code, are amended
 1-5     to read as follows:
 1-6           (b)  An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
 1-7     misdemeanor, except that the offense is a felony of the third
 1-8     degree if the offense is committed against:
 1-9                 (1)  a person the actor knows is a public servant while
1-10     the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty, or in
1-11     retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or
1-12     performance of an official duty as a public servant; or
1-13                 (2)  a member of the defendant's family or household,
1-14     if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the defendant has
1-15     been previously convicted of an offense against a member of the
1-16     defendant's family or household under:
1-17                       (A)  this section;
1-18                       (B)  Chapter 19;
1-19                       (C)  Section 20.03 or 20.04;
1-20                       (D)  Section 21.11; or
1-21                       (E)  Section 22.011, 22.02, 22.021, 22.04,
1-22     22.041, 22.05, or 22.07.
1-23           (f)  For the purposes of this section, a defendant has been
1-24     previously convicted of an offense listed in Subsection (b)(2)
 2-1     committed against a member of the defendant's family or a member of
 2-2     the defendant's household [under this section] if the defendant was
 2-3     adjudged guilty of the offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo
 2-4     contendere in return for a grant of deferred adjudication,
 2-5     regardless of whether the sentence for the offense was ever imposed
 2-6     or whether the sentence was probated and the defendant was
 2-7     subsequently discharged from community supervision.
 2-8           SECTION 2. (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
 2-9     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
2-10     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
2-11     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-12     before the effective date.
2-13           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-14     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-15     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-16           SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.