By: Hunter, Bob H.B. No. 372
73R2212 SOS-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to peace officers of hospitals in certain municipalities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 311, Health and Safety
1-5 Code, is amended by adding Section 311.004 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 311.004. PEACE OFFICERS OF HOSPITALS IN CERTAIN
1-7 MUNICIPALITIES. (a) A hospital in a municipality with a
1-8 population of 100,000 or more may employ and commission a peace
1-9 officer to protect the hospital.
1-10 (b) The primary jurisdiction of a peace officer commissioned
1-11 by a hospital under this section includes:
1-12 (1) the property of the hospital; and
1-13 (2) any part of a public street or highway that is
1-14 adjacent to, or that part of a public street or highway that passes
1-15 through, the hospital.
1-16 (c) Within a peace officer's primary jurisdiction, a peace
1-17 officer commissioned under this section:
1-18 (1) is vested with all the powers, privileges, and
1-19 immunities of peace officers;
1-20 (2) may, in accordance with Chapter 14, Code of
1-21 Criminal Procedure, arrest without a warrant any person who
1-22 violates a law of the state; and
1-23 (3) may enforce all traffic laws on streets and
1-24 highways.
2-1 (d) Outside a peace officer's primary jurisdiction a peace
2-2 officer commissioned under this section is vested with all the
2-3 powers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers and may arrest
2-4 any person who violates any law of the state if the peace officer:
2-5 (1) is summoned by a law enforcement agency to provide
2-6 assistance;
2-7 (2) is assisting a law enforcement agency; or
2-8 (3) is otherwise performing duties as a peace officer
2-9 for the hospital that employs the peace officer.
2-10 SECTION 2. Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
2-11 amended to read as follows:
2-12 Art. 2.12. WHO ARE PEACE OFFICERS. The following are peace
2-13 officers:
2-14 (1) sheriffs and their deputies;
2-15 (2) constables and deputy constables;
2-16 (3) marshals or police officers of an incorporated
2-17 city, town, or village;
2-18 (4) rangers and officers commissioned by the Public
2-19 Safety Commission and the Director of the Department of Public
2-20 Safety;
2-21 (5) investigators of the district attorneys', criminal
2-22 district attorneys', and county attorneys' offices;
2-23 (6) law enforcement agents of the Texas Alcoholic
2-24 Beverage Commission;
2-25 (7) each member of an arson investigating unit
2-26 commissioned by a city, a county, or the state;
2-27 (8) officers commissioned under Subchapter E, Chapter
3-1 51, Education Code;
3-2 (9) officers commissioned by the State Purchasing and
3-3 General Services Commission;
3-4 (10) law enforcement officers commissioned by the
3-5 Parks and Wildlife Commission;
3-6 (11) airport police officers commissioned by a city
3-7 with a population of more than one million, according to the most
3-8 recent federal census, that operates an airport that serves
3-9 commercial air carriers;
3-10 (12) airport security personnel commissioned as peace
3-11 officers by the governing body of any political subdivision of this
3-12 state, other than a city described by Subdivision (11), that
3-13 operates an airport that serves commercial air carriers;
3-14 (13) municipal park and recreational patrolmen and
3-15 security officers;
3-16 (14) security officers commissioned as peace officers
3-17 by the State Treasurer;
3-18 (15) officers commissioned by a water control and
3-19 improvement district under Section 51.132, Water Code;
3-20 (16) officers commissioned by a board of trustees
3-21 under Chapter 341, Acts of the 57th Legislature, Regular Session,
3-22 1961 (Article 1187f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes);
3-23 (17) investigators commissioned by the Texas State
3-24 Board of Medical Examiners;
3-25 (18) officers commissioned by the board of managers of
3-26 the Dallas County Hospital District, the Tarrant County Hospital
3-27 District, or the Bexar County Hospital District under
4-1 Section 281.057, Health and Safety Code;
4-2 (19) county park rangers commissioned under Subchapter
4-3 E, Chapter 351, Local Government Code;
4-4 (20) investigators employed by the Texas Racing
4-5 Commission;
4-6 (21) officers commissioned by the State Board of
4-7 Pharmacy;
4-8 (22) officers commissioned by the governing body of a
4-9 metropolitan rapid transit authority under Section 13, Chapter 141,
4-10 Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 1118x,
4-11 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or by a regional transportation
4-12 authority under Section 10, Chapter 683, Acts of the 66th
4-13 Legislature, Regular Session, 1979 (Article 1118y, Vernon's Texas
4-14 Civil Statutes);
4-15 (23) officers commissioned by the Texas High-Speed
4-16 Rail Authority;
4-17 (24) investigators commissioned by the attorney
4-18 general under Section 402.009, Government Code; <and>
4-19 (25) security officers and investigators commissioned
4-20 as peace officers under the State Lottery Act; and
4-21 (26) officers commissioned by a hospital under
4-22 Section 311.004, Health and Safety Code.
4-23 SECTION 3. Section 51.214, Education Code, is repealed.
4-24 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-2 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-3 passage, and it is so enacted.