By: Gutierrez S.B. No. 1739
 
 
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the punishment for certain conduct constituting the
  offense of murder and providing for the prosecution of that conduct
  as capital murder; increasing a criminal penalty.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 19.03(a), Penal Code, is amended 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 who
  is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the
  person knows is a peace officer or fireman;
               (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;
               (9)  the person murders an individual 10 years of age or
  older but younger than 15 years of age; [or]
               (10)  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; or
               (11)  the person murders a student or educational
  employee in an educational facility.
         SECTION 2.  Section 12.31, Penal Code, is amended to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 12.31.  CAPITAL FELONY. (a) An individual adjudged
  guilty of a capital felony in a case in which the state seeks the
  death penalty shall be punished by imprisonment in the Texas
  Department of Criminal Justice for life without parole or by death.
  An individual adjudged guilty of a capital felony in a case in which
  the state does not seek the death penalty shall be punished by
  imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for:
               (1)  life, if the individual committed the offense when
  younger than 18 years of age; [or]
               (2)  life without parole, if the individual committed
  the offense when 18 years of age or older[.]; or
               (3)  life without parole, if the individual committed
  the offense against a student or educational employee at an
  educational facility.
         (b)  In a capital felony trial in which the state seeks the
  death penalty, prospective jurors shall be informed that a sentence
  of life imprisonment without parole or death is mandatory on
  conviction of a capital felony. In a capital felony trial in which
  the state does not seek the death penalty, prospective jurors shall
  be informed that the state is not seeking the death penalty and
  that:
               (1)  a sentence of life imprisonment is mandatory on
  conviction of the capital felony, if the individual committed the
  offense when younger than 18 years of age; or
               (2)  a sentence of life imprisonment without parole is
  mandatory on conviction of the capital felony, if the individual
  committed the offense when 18 years of age or older.
         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 occurred
  before that date.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.