By: Carona S.B. No. 329
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the automatic suspension of the driver's license of a
  person convicted of certain organized crime offenses; providing
  penalties.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 521.343, Transportation
  Code, is amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Sections 521.342(b), 521.344(a),
  (b), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and (i), 521.345, 521.346, 521.3465,
  [and] 521.351, and 521.352, a suspension under this subchapter is
  for one year.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter O, Chapter 521, Transportation Code,
  is amended by adding Section 521.352 to read as follows:
         Sec. 521.352.  SUSPENSION OR PROHIBITION FOR CERTAIN
  ORGANIZED CRIME OFFENSES.  (a)  A person's license is automatically
  suspended on conviction of the person for an offense under Chapter
  71, Penal Code.
         (b)  The department may not issue a driver's license to a
  person convicted of an offense specified in Subsection (a) who, on
  the date of the conviction, did not hold a license.
         (c)  The period of license suspension or prohibition under
  this section begins on a date set by the court that is not earlier
  than the date of conviction or later than the 30th day after the
  date of conviction. The period of license suspension or
  prohibition under this section expires on the first anniversary of
  the date the suspension or prohibition began.
         SECTION 3.  Section 521.457, Transportation Code, is amended
  by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (f-2) to read as
  follows:
         (e)  Except as provided by Subsections (f), [and] (f-1), and
  (f-2), an offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
         (f-2)  If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this
  section that the person operated a motor vehicle on a highway during
  a period that the person's driver's license was suspended under
  Section 521.352 or the person was prohibited from obtaining a
  driver's license under that section, the offense is a Class A
  misdemeanor.
         SECTION 4.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
  only to an offense committed on or after September 1, 2009.
         (b)  An offense committed before September 1, 2009, 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, 2009,
  if any element of the offense was committed before that date.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.