By: Hunter, Bob H.B. No. 1271
73R4828 JD-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to punishment for and civil consequences of certain
1-3 offenses involving fleeing from or attempting to elude a police
1-4 officer or evading arrest.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 186, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
1-7 Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
1-8 to read as follows:
1-9 Sec. 186. FLEEING OR ATTEMPTING TO ELUDE A POLICE OFFICER.
1-10 (a) The <Any> driver of a motor vehicle who willfully fails or
1-11 refuses to bring his vehicle to a stop<, or who otherwise flees or
1-12 attempts to elude a pursuing police vehicle,> when given visual or
1-13 audible signal to bring the vehicle to a stop<,> shall be guilty of
1-14 an offense <a misdemeanor>. The signal given by the police officer
1-15 may be by hand, voice, emergency light or siren. The officer
1-16 giving such signal shall be in uniform, prominently displaying his
1-17 badge of office, and the <his> vehicle of the officer, if any,
1-18 shall be appropriately marked showing it to be an official police
1-19 vehicle.
1-20 (b) The driver of a motor vehicle commits an offense if the
1-21 driver:
1-22 (1) uses evasive driving tactics to avoid arrest or
1-23 detention by a police officer who is operating an appropriately
1-24 marked official police vehicle that is displaying one or more
2-1 emergency lights or emitting sound from a siren and who the driver
2-2 knows is attempting to arrest or detain the driver; and
2-3 (2) recklessly engages in conduct that places any
2-4 person, including the driver, in imminent danger of serious bodily
2-5 injury.
2-6 (c) <(b)> It is presumed that the driver recklessly engaged
2-7 in conduct placing a person <another> in imminent danger of serious
2-8 bodily injury under Subsection (b) <(c)> of this section if the
2-9 driver knowingly operated a motor vehicle while intoxicated during
2-10 the commission of the offense. In this subsection, "intoxicated"
2-11 has the meaning assigned that term by Article 6701l-1, Revised
2-12 Statutes.
2-13 (d) <(c)> An offense under this section is a Class B
2-14 misdemeanor <unless the driver, during the commission of the
2-15 offense, recklessly engaged in conduct that placed another in
2-16 imminent danger of serious bodily injury, in which event the
2-17 offense is a Class A misdemeanor>, except as provided by Subsection
2-18 (e) of this section.
2-19 (e) An offense under Subsection (b) of this section is a
2-20 felony of the third degree.
2-21 SECTION 2. Section 24(a), Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th
2-22 Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas
2-23 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
2-24 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (g) of this Section,
2-25 the license of any person shall be automatically suspended upon
2-26 final conviction of:
2-27 (1) an offense under Section 19.07, Penal Code,
3-1 committed as a result of the person's criminally negligent
3-2 operation of a motor vehicle;
3-3 (2) an offense under Section 19.05(a)(2), Penal Code;
3-4 (3) an offense under Article 6701l-1, Revised
3-5 Statutes;
3-6 (4) an offense punishable as a felony under the motor
3-7 vehicle laws of this State;
3-8 (5) an offense under Section 38, Uniform Act
3-9 Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil
3-10 Statutes); <or>
3-11 (6) an offense under Section 32 or 32A of this Act; or
3-12 (7) an offense under Section 38.04(a), Penal Code, if
3-13 the person operated a motor vehicle during the commission of the
3-14 offense.
3-15 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993. The
3-16 changes in law made by this Act apply only to offenses committed on
3-17 or after that date. An offense committed before the effective date
3-18 of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was
3-19 committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
3-20 purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
3-21 before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
3-22 occurred before that date.
3-23 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.