UnboundLocalError in Python 3 When Using an Exception Alias

While modifying execsql to run under Python 3 as well as Python 2, I encountered a version compatibility issue that I did not find described in any readily available online documentation for 2-to-3 conversion. It is:

In Python 3, when an exception is aliased to the same name as an existing variable, that variable is destroyed, and subsequent references to the variable will result in an UnboundLocalError exception.

Here is a little code to illustrate that effect:

class SomeError(Exception):
 def __init__(self, msg):
  self.message = msg

def generate_exception():
 return 'five' / 'two'

def test_local():
 er = None
 try:
  generate_exception()
 except TypeError as er:
  pass
 except:
  er = SomeError("Unexpected exception.")
 if er:
  print("An exception occurred.")

test_local()

This runs successfully in Python 2, but an UnboundLocalError is generated in Python 3.6.5 at the line "if er:".

This is documented in the Python bug tracker as issue 26174 for Python 3.4, but as of that version the exception generated was a NameError rather than an UnboundLocalError.