By: Fraser S.B. No. 496
(Hilderbran, Gallego, Fletcher, Rodriguez)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the punishment for the offense of evading arrest or
detention.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (b) and (c), Section 38.04, Penal
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor,
except that the offense is:
(1) a state jail felony if:
(A) the actor has been previously convicted under
this section; or
(B) the actor uses a vehicle or watercraft while
the actor is in flight and the actor has not been previously
convicted under this section;
(2) a felony of the third degree if:
(A) the actor uses a vehicle or watercraft while
the actor is in flight and the actor has been previously convicted
under this section; or
(B) another suffers serious bodily injury as a
direct result of an attempt by the officer from whom the actor is
fleeing to apprehend the actor while the actor is in flight; or
(3) a felony of the second degree if another suffers
death as a direct result of an attempt by the officer from whom the
actor is fleeing to apprehend the actor while the actor is in
flight.
(c) In this section:
(1) "Vehicle"[, "vehicle"] has the meaning assigned by
Section 541.201, Transportation Code.
(2) "Watercraft" has the meaning assigned by Section
49.01.
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
covered by the law in effect on the date 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 occurred
before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.