79R980 UM-D

By:  Brown of Brazos                                              H.B. No. 590



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the offense of cruelty to animals.                                
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 42.09(a), Penal Code, is amended to read 
as follows:     
	(a)  A person commits an offense if the person intentionally,
[or] knowingly, or recklessly:
		(1)  kills in a cruel manner, tortures, or causes 
bodily injury to an animal;
		(2)  fails unreasonably to provide necessary food, 
care, or shelter for an animal in the person's custody;
		(3)  abandons unreasonably an animal in the person's 
custody;               
		(4)  transports or confines an animal in a cruel 
manner;                    
		(5)  kills[, seriously injures,] or administers poison 
to an animal not owned by the actor [, other than cattle, horses, 
sheep, swine, or goats, belonging to another] without legal 
authority or the owner's effective consent;
		(6)  causes one animal to fight with another;                                 
		(7)  uses a live animal as a lure in dog race training 
or in dog coursing on a racetrack;
		(8)  trips a horse; or                                                 
		(9)  [injures an animal, other than cattle, horses, 
sheep, swine, or goats, belonging to another without legal 
authority or the owner's effective consent; or
		[(10)] seriously overworks an animal.                        
	SECTION 2.  Section 42.09(c)(2), Penal Code, is amended to 
read as follows:  
		(2)  "Animal" means a domesticated living creature or 
[and] wild living creature [previously captured. "Animal" does not 
include an uncaptured wild creature or a wild creature whose 
capture was accomplished by conduct at issue under this section].
	SECTION 3.  Sections 42.09(d) and (h), Penal Code, are 
amended to read as follows:
	(d)  An offense under Subsection (a)(2), (3), (4), or (9)[, 
or (10)] is a Class A misdemeanor, except that the offense is a 
state jail felony if the person has previously been convicted two 
times under this section.
	(h)  It is an exception to the application of this section 
that the conduct engaged in by the actor is a generally accepted and 
otherwise lawful:
		(1)  use of an animal if that use occurs solely for the 
purpose of:         
			(A)  fishing, hunting, or trapping; or                                       
			(B)  wildlife control as regulated by state and 
federal law; [or]
		(2)  animal husbandry or farming practice involving 
livestock; or    
		(3)  activity to control common household vermin or 
rodents.         
	SECTION 4.  The change in law made by this Act applies only 
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.  
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act 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 section, an offense was committed before the effective date of 
this Act if any element of the offense was committed before that 
date.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.