Bill Text: TX HB1573 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the prosecution of the criminal offense of capital murder.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-05-07 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB1573 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB1573-Introduced.html

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86R8479 TSS-F
By: Raney H.B. No. 1573

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the criminal offense of capital
murder.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 19.03, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person commits murder
as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and:
(1) the person murders a peace officer, [or] fireman,
or emergency medical services personnel who is acting in the lawful
discharge of an official duty and who the person knows is a peace
officer, [or] fireman, or emergency medical services personnel;
(2) the person intentionally commits the murder in the
course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,
robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or
retaliation, or terroristic threat under Section 22.07(a)(1), (3),
(4), (5), or (6);
(3) the person commits the murder for remuneration or
the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder
for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
(4) the person commits the murder while escaping or
attempting to escape from a penal institution;
(5) the person, while incarcerated in a penal
institution, murders another:
(A) who is employed in the operation of the penal
institution; or
(B) with the intent to establish, maintain, or
participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
(6) the person:
(A) while incarcerated for an offense under this
section or Section 19.02, murders another; or
(B) while serving a sentence of life imprisonment
or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section 20.04, 22.021, or
29.03, murders another;
(7) the person murders more than one person:
(A) during the same criminal transaction; or
(B) during different criminal transactions but
the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of
conduct;
(8) the person murders an individual under 10 years of
age; or
(9) the person murders another person in retaliation
for or on account of the service or status of the other person as a
judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of criminal
appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal district
court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county court, a
justice court, or a municipal court.
(d) In this section, "emergency medical services personnel"
has the meaning assigned by Section 773.003, Health and Safety
Code.
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
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 was
committed before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.