78R742 EMT-F
By: Callegari H.B. No. 182
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the statute of limitations for the offense of arson.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 12.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
amended by Chapters 12, 1479, and 1482, Acts of the 77th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2001, is reenacted and amended to
read as follows:
Art. 12.01. FELONIES. Except as provided in Article 12.03,
felony indictments may be presented within these limits, and not
afterward:
(1) no limitation:
(A) murder and manslaughter; [or]
(B) sexual assault, if during the investigation
of the offense biological matter is collected and subjected to
forensic DNA testing and the testing results show that the matter
does not match the victim or any other person whose identity is
readily ascertained; or
(C) [, and] an offense involving leaving the
scene of an accident under Section 550.021, Transportation Code, if
the accident resulted in the death of a person;
(2) ten years from the date of the commission of the
offense:
(A) theft of any estate, real, personal or mixed,
by an executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, with intent to
defraud any creditor, heir, legatee, ward, distributee,
beneficiary or settlor of a trust interested in such estate;
(B) theft by a public servant of government
property over which he exercises control in his official capacity;
(C) forgery or the uttering, using or passing of
forged instruments;
(D) injury to a child, elderly individual, or
disabled individual punishable as a felony of the first degree
under Section 22.04, Penal Code; [or]
(E) sexual assault, except as provided by
Subdivision (1) or (5); or
(F) arson;
(3) seven years from the date of the commission of the
offense:
(A) misapplication of fiduciary property or
property of a financial institution;
(B) securing execution of document by deception;
or
(C) a violation under Sections 153.403(22)-(39),
Tax Code;
(4) five years from the date of the commission of the
offense:
(A) theft, burglary, robbery; [or]
(B) [arson;
[(C)] kidnapping;
(C) [(D)] injury to a child, elderly individual,
or disabled individual that is not punishable as a felony of the
first degree under Section 22.04, Penal Code; or
(D) [(E)] abandoning or endangering a child;
(5) ten years from the 18th birthday of the victim of
the offense:
(A) indecency with a child under Section
21.11(a)(1) or (2), Penal Code; or
(B) except as provided by Subdivision (1), sexual
assault under Section 22.011(a)(2), Penal Code, or aggravated
sexual assault under Section 22.021(a)(1)(B), Penal Code; or
(6) three years from the date of the commission of the
offense: all other felonies.
SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
(b) The change in law made by this Act to Article 12.01, Code
of Criminal Procedure, does not apply to an offense if the
prosecution of that offense became barred by limitation before the
effective date of this Act. The prosecution of that offense remains
barred as if this Act had not taken effect.