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| 3 | | - | |
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| 2 | + | (In the Senate - Filed March 10, 2025; March 24, 2025, read |
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| 3 | + | first time and referred to Committee on Water, Agriculture and |
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| 4 | + | Rural Affairs; March 31, 2025, reported favorably by the following |
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| 5 | + | vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; March 31, 2025, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | + | Click here to see the committee vote |
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| 4 | 7 | | |
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| 5 | 8 | | |
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| 6 | 9 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 7 | 10 | | AN ACT |
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| 8 | 11 | | relating to the punishment for certain criminal offenses related to |
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| 9 | 12 | | cultivated oyster mariculture; increasing a criminal penalty. |
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| 10 | 13 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 11 | 14 | | SECTION 1. Section 75.0107, Parks and Wildlife Code, is |
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| 12 | 15 | | amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (b-1) and |
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| 13 | 16 | | (b-2) to read as follows: |
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| 14 | 17 | | (b) A person commits an offense if the person [who] |
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| 15 | 18 | | violates: |
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| 16 | 19 | | (1) Section 75.0104(a) or 75.0106; or |
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| 17 | 20 | | (2) a rule adopted under this chapter. |
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| 18 | 21 | | (b-1) An [commits an] offense under Subsection (b)(1) |
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| 19 | 22 | | [that] is a Class B Parks and Wildlife Code misdemeanor, except that |
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| 20 | 23 | | the offense is a Class A Parks and Wildlife Code misdemeanor if it |
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| 21 | 24 | | is shown on the trial of the offense that the defendant has been |
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| 22 | 25 | | previously convicted of an offense under Subsection (b)(1) during |
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| 23 | 26 | | the five-year period preceding the date of the trial of the current |
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| 24 | 27 | | offense. |
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| 25 | 28 | | (b-2) An offense under Subsection (b)(2) is a Class C Parks |
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| 26 | 29 | | and Wildlife Code misdemeanor, except that the offense is a Class B |
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| 27 | 30 | | Parks and Wildlife Code misdemeanor if it is shown on the trial of |
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| 28 | 31 | | the offense that the defendant has been previously convicted of an |
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| 29 | 32 | | offense under Subsection (b)(2) two or more times during the |
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| 30 | 33 | | five-year period preceding the date of the trial of the current |
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| 31 | 34 | | offense. |
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| 32 | 35 | | SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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| 33 | 36 | | to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. |
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| 34 | 37 | | An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is |
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| 35 | 38 | | governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, |
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| 36 | 39 | | and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For |
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| 37 | 40 | | purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the |
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| 38 | 41 | | effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred |
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| 39 | 42 | | before that date. |
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| 40 | 43 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |
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