78R4347 DWS-F

By:  Dunnam                                                       H.B. No. 788



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the penalty for operation of a motor vehicle by a person 
who does not hold a driver's license.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 521.021, Transportation Code, is amended 
to read as follows:
	Sec. 521.021.  LICENSE REQUIRED. (a)  A person, other than a 
person expressly exempted under this chapter, may not operate a 
motor vehicle on a highway in this state unless the person holds a 
driver's license issued under this chapter.
	(b)  If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this 
section 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, instead of the penalty provided by Section 521.461 
the offense is a misdemeanor punishable by:
		(1)  a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500;                   
		(2)  confinement in county jail for a term of not less 
than 72 hours or more than six months; or
		(3)  both the fine and the confinement.                                
	SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies only to the punishment for an offense occurring on or after 
that date.  For the purposes of this section, an offense is 
committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of 
the offense occurs before that date.
	(b)  Punishment for an offense committed before the 
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the 
offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for 
that purpose.