By:  Hinojosa                                                     S.B. No. 685


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the authority of a peace officer to make a warrantless 
arrest for the commission of family violence.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subsections (a), (c), and (f), Article 14.03, 
Code of Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  Any peace officer may arrest, without warrant:                            
		(1)  persons found in suspicious places and under 
circumstances which reasonably show that such persons have been 
guilty of some felony, violation of Title 9, Chapter 42, Penal Code, 
breach of the peace, or offense under Section 49.02, Penal Code, or 
threaten, or are about to commit some offense against the laws;
		(2)  persons who the peace officer has probable cause 
to believe have committed an assault resulting in bodily injury to 
another person and the peace officer has probable cause to believe 
that there is danger of further bodily injury to that person;
		(3)  persons who the peace officer has probable cause 
to believe have committed the offense defined by Section 25.07, 
Penal Code (violation of Protective Order), if the offense is not 
committed in the presence of the peace officer; or
		(4)  persons who the peace officer has probable cause 
to believe have committed family violence [an assault resulting in 
bodily injury to a member of the person's family or household].
	(c)  If reasonably necessary to verify an allegation of a 
violation of a protective order or of the commission of family 
violence [an assault against a member of the family or household], a 
peace officer shall remain at the scene of the investigation to 
verify the allegation and to prevent the further commission of 
family violence.
	(f)  In this article, "family violence" has ["family," 
"household," and "member of a household" have] the meaning
[meanings] assigned [to those terms] by Section 71.004 [71.01], 
Family Code.
	SECTION 2.  (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.