By: Carona S.B. No. 329
(In the Senate - Filed December 1, 2008; February 11, 2009,
read first time and referred to Committee on Transportation and
Homeland Security; April 8, 2009, reported adversely, with
favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0;
April 8, 2009, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 329 By: Carona
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.
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