80R5933 JPL-F
 
  By: Latham H.B. No. 1779
 
 
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the punishment for the offense of burglary of a vehicle.
       BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
       SECTION 1.  Section 30.04, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsections (f) and (g) to read
as follows:
       (d)  An offense under this section is:
             (1)  a Class B misdemeanor if the amount of pecuniary
loss to tangible personal property is less than $500;
             (2)  a Class A misdemeanor if the amount of pecuniary
loss to tangible personal property is $500 or more but less than
$1,500;
             (3)  a state jail felony if:
                   (A)  the amount of pecuniary loss to tangible
personal property is $1,500 or more but less than $20,000;
                   (B)  the amount of pecuniary loss to tangible
personal property is less than $1,500 and the actor has previously
been convicted two or more times under this section;
                   (C)  the amount of pecuniary loss to tangible
personal property is less than $1,500 and the actor commits theft of
an official ballot or official carrier envelope for an election in
the course of committing the offense; or
                   (D)  the amount of pecuniary loss to tangible
personal property is less than $1,500 and [unless] the vehicle or
part of the vehicle broken into or entered is a rail car;
             (4)  a felony of the third degree if the amount of
pecuniary loss to tangible personal property is $20,000 or more but
less than $100,000;
             (5)  a felony of the second degree if the amount of
pecuniary loss to tangible personal property is $100,000 or more
but less than $200,000; or
             (6)  a felony of the first degree if the amount of
pecuniary loss to tangible personal property is $200,000 or more [,
in which event the offense is a state jail felony].
       (f)  If the actor, pursuant to one scheme or continuing
course of conduct, commits three or more offenses under this
section in a 24–hour period, the conduct may be considered as one
offense and the amounts of pecuniary loss aggregated in determining
the grade of offense.
       (g)  For the purposes of Subsection (d), the amount of
pecuniary loss to tangible personal property is the sum of:
             (1)  the cost of repairing or restoring the vehicle, if
the actor damaged the vehicle in the course of committing the
offense; and
             (2)  the fair market value of any tangible personal
property the actor stole from the vehicle, if the actor committed
theft in the course of committing the offense.
       SECTION 2.  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
governed by the law in effect at the time the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For the
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
before that date.
       SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.