78R1581 PEP-D

By:  Shapiro                                                      S.B. No. 177



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the criminal consequences for delivery of a controlled 
substance causing death.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Chapter 19, Penal Code, is amended by adding 
Section 19.06 to read as follows:
	Sec. 19.06.  DELIVERY OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE CAUSING DEATH.  
(a)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly delivers a 
controlled substance listed in a penalty group under Chapter 481, 
Health and Safety Code, to another person who dies as a result of 
injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or introducing into the person's 
body any amount of the controlled substance, regardless of whether:
		(1)  the person delivered the controlled substance 
directly to the person who died or delivered the controlled 
substance indirectly through another person; or
		(2)  the person who died used the controlled substance 
by itself or with another substance, including a drug, adulterant, 
or dilutant.
	(b)  An offense under this section is a felony of the third 
degree.   
	(c)  It is an exception to the application of this section 
that the person who delivered the controlled substance was, at the 
time of the delivery:
		(1)  acting within the scope of the person's license as 
a health care professional; or
		(2)  acting under the direction of a licensed health 
care professional.
	(d)  If conduct that constitutes an offense under this 
section also constitutes an offense under Section 19.02, 19.03, or 
19.04 in this chapter, the conduct may be prosecuted under this 
section or the other section.
	SECTION 2.  Article 42.08(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended to read as follows:
	(b)  The court [If a defendant is sentenced for an offense 
committed while the defendant was an inmate in the institutional 
division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the 
defendant has not completed the sentence he was serving at the time 
of the offense, the judge] shall order the sentence imposed in a 
second or [for the] subsequent conviction [offense] to commence 
immediately on completion of the sentence imposed in a preceding 
conviction when:
		(1)  the defendant committed the offense that is the 
subject of the second or subsequent conviction while the defendant 
was an inmate in the institutional division of the Texas Department 
of Criminal Justice completing the terms of the sentence imposed in 
a preceding conviction; or
		(2)  the defendant is convicted of an offense under 
Section 19.06, Penal Code, and another offense under Chapter 481, 
Health and Safety Code [for the original offense].
	SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.                      
	(b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to an 
offense committed on or after September 1, 2003.  An offense 
committed before September 1, 2003, is covered by the law in effect 
when the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in 
effect for that purpose.  For purposes of this subsection, an 
offense was committed before September 1, 2003, if any element of 
the offense was committed before that date.