By: Hartnett H.B. No. 950
73R4052 JD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the authority of a law enforcement agency to establish
1-3 a checkpoint on a public highway to determine whether persons are
1-4 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. A law enforcement
1-10 agency may establish a temporary checkpoint on a public highway to
1-11 determine whether persons operating motor vehicles on the highway
1-12 are intoxicated in violation of Article 6701l-1, Revised Statutes.
1-13 A person operating a motor vehicle on a public highway is
1-14 considered to have consented to inspection at a checkpoint in
1-15 return for the privilege of operating the motor vehicle on a public
1-16 highway.
1-17 Sec. 2. APPROVAL OF AND PROCEDURES FOR SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS.
1-18 (a) A peace officer of at least the rank of lieutenant in a law
1-19 enforcement agency must approve the operation of a checkpoint by
1-20 peace officers of the agency and the procedures to be used in the
1-21 operation of the checkpoint before the checkpoint begins operation.
1-22 (b) The law enforcement agency must record in writing the
1-23 procedures used in selecting the site for the checkpoint and the
1-24 procedures to be used in the operation of the checkpoint.
2-1 (c) Procedures governing the operation of a checkpoint must
2-2 ensure that motor vehicles are stopped on a reasonably predictable,
2-3 nonarbitrary basis, such as by requiring that every vehicle or
2-4 every other vehicle entering the checkpoint, from one or both
2-5 directions, be stopped.
2-6 (d) The law enforcement agency shall establish the location,
2-7 time, and layout of the checkpoint with regard for the safety of
2-8 the public entering the checkpoint and the peace officers operating
2-9 the checkpoint. The law enforcement agency shall make reasonable
2-10 efforts to place signs or other devices that will advise oncoming
2-11 drivers of the checkpoint and the purpose of the checkpoint, to
2-12 demarcate the checkpoint with flares, flags, or traffic cones, and
2-13 to otherwise illuminate the checkpoint if necessary.
2-14 (e) Peace officers operating the checkpoint must be in
2-15 uniform.
2-16 (f) The law enforcement agency shall establish procedures
2-17 governing the encounters between drivers and the peace officers
2-18 that ensure that any intrusion on the drivers is minimized and that
2-19 the inquiries made are reasonably related to the purpose of the
2-20 checkpoint. This subsection does not prohibit an officer from
2-21 requesting a driver to show that the driver possesses a driver's
2-22 license or evidence of financial responsibility as required by law.
2-23 A peace officer may not direct a driver or a passenger in a motor
2-24 vehicle to leave the vehicle or move the vehicle off the roadway
2-25 unless the officer has reasonable suspicion or probable cause to
2-26 believe that the person has committed or is committing an offense.
2-27 However, a peace officer may require that each motor vehicle
3-1 passing through the checkpoint be diverted to a location
3-2 immediately adjacent to the roadway, if desirable, to ensure
3-3 safety. An officer may not require a driver to perform a sobriety
3-4 test unless the officer has reasonable suspicion or probable cause
3-5 to believe that the driver is violating Article 6701l-1, Revised
3-6 Statutes. A peace officer who requires or requests a driver to
3-7 provide a specimen of breath, blood, or urine must comply with
3-8 Chapter 434, Acts of the 61st Legislature, Regular Session, 1969
3-9 (Article 6701l-5, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes). Unless an
3-10 officer has reasonable suspicion or probable cause to detain a
3-11 driver or a passenger for a criminal offense, the time during which
3-12 an officer conducting the checkpoint makes an inquiry of a driver
3-13 or passenger should not exceed two minutes, and the total time
3-14 during which the driver must wait to pass through the checkpoint
3-15 should not exceed 10 minutes. The law enforcement agency shall
3-16 make reasonable efforts to reduce these time periods to not more
3-17 than one and five minutes, respectively.
3-18 (g) The law enforcement agency conducting a checkpoint shall
3-19 make reasonable efforts to publicize that it will conduct a
3-20 checkpoint, but the agency is not required to disclose the precise
3-21 date, time, or location of a particular checkpoint.
3-22 (h) A law enforcement agency may not operate a checkpoint at
3-23 one location for more than four hours. A checkpoint may not be
3-24 operated at a location more than twice in a seven-day period,
3-25 regardless of whether more than one law enforcement agency
3-26 establishes a checkpoint at the location. For the purposes of this
3-27 subsection, checkpoints located within one-half mile of each other
4-1 are considered to be at the same location.
4-2 (i) An agency conducting a checkpoint shall keep a record of
4-3 the operation of a checkpoint that contains:
4-4 (1) the date, time, location, and duration of the
4-5 checkpoint;
4-6 (2) the number of motor vehicles stopped at the
4-7 checkpoint and the number and nature of arrests made or citations
4-8 issued at the checkpoint; and
4-9 (3) the identity of the peace officers operating the
4-10 checkpoint.
4-11 Sec. 3. DEFINITIONS. In this article:
4-12 (1) "Law enforcement agency" means:
4-13 (A) the Department of Public Safety;
4-14 (B) the sheriff's department of a county; or
4-15 (C) the police department of a municipality.
4-16 (2) "Public highway" has the meaning assigned the term
4-17 "highway" in the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways
4-18 (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
4-19 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
4-20 applies only to the procedures used in the operation of public
4-21 highway checkpoints operated on or after that date. This Act does
4-22 not invalidate public highway checkpoints operated before the
4-23 effective date of this Act.
4-24 SECTION 3. 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.