73R10674 JD-D
By Hartnett, Carona H.B. No. 950
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 950:
By Hartnett C.S.H.B. No. 950
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the authority of certain police departments to
1-3 establish a checkpoint on a public highway to determine whether
1-4 persons are driving while intoxicated.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Title 116, Revised Statutes, is amended by adding
1-7 Article 6701l-8 to read as follows:
1-8 Art. 6701l-8. PUBLIC HIGHWAY CHECKPOINTS
1-9 Sec. 1. AUTHORIZATION FOR CHECKPOINTS. In a municipality
1-10 with a population of 250,000 or more, according to the most recent
1-11 federal decennial census, the police department of the municipality
1-12 may establish a temporary checkpoint on a public highway in the
1-13 municipality to determine whether persons operating motor vehicles
1-14 on the highway are intoxicated in violation of Article 6701l-1,
1-15 Revised Statutes, and its subsequent amendments, if the governing
1-16 body of the municipality has by ordinance authorized the department
1-17 to establish vehicle checkpoints in the municipality. The police
1-18 department may not operate a particular checkpoint for more than
1-19 one purpose. A person operating a motor vehicle on a public
1-20 highway is considered to have consented to inspection at a
1-21 checkpoint in return for the privilege of operating the motor
1-22 vehicle on a public highway.
1-23 Sec. 2. APPROVAL OF AND PROCEDURES FOR SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS.
1-24 (a) A peace officer of at least the rank of lieutenant in the
2-1 police department must approve the operation of a checkpoint by
2-2 peace officers of the department and the procedures to be used in
2-3 the operation of the checkpoint before the checkpoint begins
2-4 operation.
2-5 (b) The police department must record in writing the
2-6 procedures used in selecting the site for the checkpoint and the
2-7 procedures to be used in the operation of the checkpoint.
2-8 (c) Procedures governing the operation of a checkpoint must
2-9 ensure that motor vehicles are stopped on a reasonably predictable,
2-10 nonarbitrary basis, such as by requiring that every vehicle or
2-11 every other vehicle entering the checkpoint, from one or both
2-12 directions, be stopped.
2-13 (d) The police department shall establish the location,
2-14 time, and layout of the checkpoint with regard for the safety of
2-15 the public entering the checkpoint and the peace officers operating
2-16 the checkpoint. The police department shall make reasonable
2-17 efforts to place signs or other devices that will advise oncoming
2-18 drivers of the checkpoint and the purpose of the checkpoint, to
2-19 demarcate the checkpoint with flares, flags, or traffic cones, and
2-20 to otherwise illuminate the checkpoint if necessary.
2-21 (e) The peace officer who makes the initial contact with the
2-22 driver of a vehicle at the checkpoint must be in uniform.
2-23 (f) The police department shall establish procedures
2-24 governing the encounters between drivers and the peace officers
2-25 that ensure that any intrusion on the drivers is minimized and that
2-26 the inquiries made are reasonably related to the purpose of the
2-27 checkpoint. This subsection does not prohibit a peace officer from
3-1 requesting a driver to show that the driver possesses a driver's
3-2 license or evidence of financial responsibility as required by law.
3-3 A peace officer may not direct a driver or a passenger in a motor
3-4 vehicle to leave the vehicle or move the vehicle off the roadway
3-5 unless the officer has reasonable suspicion or probable cause to
3-6 believe that the person has committed or is committing an offense.
3-7 However, a peace officer may require that each motor vehicle
3-8 passing through the checkpoint be diverted to a location
3-9 immediately adjacent to the roadway, if desirable, to ensure
3-10 safety. A peace officer may not require a driver to perform a
3-11 sobriety test unless the officer has reasonable suspicion or
3-12 probable cause to believe that the driver is violating Article
3-13 6701l-1, Revised Statutes, and its subsequent amendments. A peace
3-14 officer who requires or requests a driver to provide a specimen of
3-15 breath, blood, or urine must comply with Chapter 434, Acts of the
3-16 61st Legislature, Regular Session, 1969 (Article 6701l-5, Vernon's
3-17 Texas Civil Statutes), and its subsequent amendments. Unless a
3-18 peace officer has reasonable suspicion or probable cause to detain
3-19 a driver or a passenger for a criminal offense, the time during
3-20 which an officer conducting the checkpoint makes an inquiry of a
3-21 driver or passenger should not exceed two minutes, and the total
3-22 time during which the driver must wait to pass through the
3-23 checkpoint should not exceed 10 minutes. The police department
3-24 shall make reasonable efforts to reduce these time periods to not
3-25 more than one and five minutes, respectively.
3-26 (g) The police department conducting a checkpoint shall make
3-27 reasonable efforts to publicize that it will conduct a checkpoint,
4-1 but the police department is not required to disclose the precise
4-2 date, time, purpose, or location of a particular checkpoint.
4-3 (h) In the absence of exigent circumstances, a police
4-4 department may not operate a checkpoint at one location for more
4-5 than four hours. In the absence of exigent circumstances, a
4-6 checkpoint may not be operated at a location more than twice in a
4-7 seven-day period, regardless of whether more than one police
4-8 department establishes a checkpoint at the location. For the
4-9 purposes of this subsection, checkpoints located within one-half
4-10 mile of each other are considered to be at the same location.
4-11 (i) A police department conducting a checkpoint shall keep a
4-12 record of the operation of a checkpoint that contains:
4-13 (1) the date, time, location, purpose, and duration of
4-14 the checkpoint;
4-15 (2) the number of motor vehicles stopped at the
4-16 checkpoint and the number and nature of arrests made or citations
4-17 issued at the checkpoint; and
4-18 (3) the identity of the peace officers operating the
4-19 checkpoint.
4-20 Sec. 3. DEFINITION. In this article, "public highway" has
4-21 the meaning assigned the term "highway" in the Uniform Act
4-22 Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil
4-23 Statutes) and its subsequent amendments.
4-24 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
4-25 applies only to the procedures used in the operation of public
4-26 highway checkpoints operated on or after that date. This Act does
4-27 not invalidate public highway checkpoints operated before the
5-1 effective date of this Act.
5-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.