By: Parker, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Perry) H.B. No. 2291
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 7, 2015;
May 11, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 22, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 22, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to increasing the punishment for certain persons convicted
of the offense of possession or promotion of child pornography.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 43.26(d) and (g), Penal Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(d) An offense under Subsection (a) is a felony of the
second [third] degree, except that the offense is a felony of the
first degree if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the
person has been previously convicted one or more times of an offense
under that subsection.
(g) An offense under Subsection (e) is a felony of the first
[second] degree.
SECTION 2. Section 508.145, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (e-1) to read as follows:
(e-1) An inmate serving a sentence for an offense under
Section 43.26, Penal Code, is not eligible for release on parole
until the inmate's actual calendar time served, without
consideration of good conduct time, equals one-half of the inmate's
sentence.
SECTION 3. 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 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 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
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