By: Bailey H.B. No. 1726
73R6241 CAG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the designation of certain medical examiner personnel
1-3 as peace officers.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 Art. 2.12. Who Are Peace Officers. The following are peace
1-8 officers:
1-9 (1) sheriffs and their deputies;
1-10 (2) constables and deputy constables;
1-11 (3) marshals or police officers of an incorporated
1-12 city, town, or village;
1-13 (4) rangers and officers commissioned by the Public
1-14 Safety Commission and the Director of the Department of Public
1-15 Safety;
1-16 (5) investigators of the district attorneys', criminal
1-17 district attorneys', and county attorneys' offices;
1-18 (6) law enforcement agents of the Texas Alcoholic
1-19 Beverage Commission;
1-20 (7) each member of an arson investigating unit
1-21 commissioned by a city, a county, or the state;
1-22 (8) officers commissioned under Subchapter E, Chapter
1-23 51, Education Code;
1-24 (9) officers commissioned by the <State Purchasing
2-1 and> General Services Commission;
2-2 (10) law enforcement officers commissioned by the
2-3 Parks and Wildlife Commission;
2-4 (11) airport police officers commissioned by a city
2-5 with a population of more than one million, according to the most
2-6 recent federal census, that operates an airport that serves
2-7 commercial air carriers;
2-8 (12) airport security personnel commissioned as peace
2-9 officers by the governing body of any political subdivision of this
2-10 state, other than a city described by Subdivision (11), that
2-11 operates an airport that serves commercial air carriers;
2-12 (13) municipal park and recreational patrolmen and
2-13 security officers;
2-14 (14) security officers commissioned as peace officers
2-15 by the State Treasurer;
2-16 (15) officers commissioned by a water control and
2-17 improvement district under Section 51.132, Water Code;
2-18 (16) officers commissioned by a board of trustees
2-19 under Chapter 341, Acts of the 57th Legislature, Regular Session,
2-20 1961 (Article 1187f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes);
2-21 (17) investigators commissioned by the Texas State
2-22 Board of Medical Examiners;
2-23 (18) officers commissioned by the board of managers of
2-24 the Dallas County Hospital District, the Tarrant County Hospital
2-25 District, or the Bexar County Hospital District under Section
2-26 281.057, Health and Safety Code;
2-27 (19) county park rangers commissioned under Subchapter
3-1 E, Chapter 351, Local Government Code;
3-2 (20) investigators employed by the Texas Racing
3-3 Commission;
3-4 (21) officers commissioned by the State Board of
3-5 Pharmacy;
3-6 (22) officers commissioned by the governing body of a
3-7 metropolitan rapid transit authority under Section 13, Chapter 141,
3-8 Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 1118x,
3-9 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or by a regional transportation
3-10 authority under Section 10, Chapter 683, Acts of the 66th
3-11 Legislature, Regular Session, 1979 (Article 1118y, Vernon's Texas
3-12 Civil Statutes);
3-13 (23) officers commissioned by the Texas High-Speed
3-14 Rail Authority;
3-15 (24) investigators commissioned by the attorney
3-16 general under Section 402.009, Government Code; <and>
3-17 (25) security officers and investigators commissioned
3-18 as peace officers under the State Lottery Act; and
3-19 (26) investigators, medical examiners, and field
3-20 agents commissioned by a medical examiner and employed by a county
3-21 or by a medical examiner's district under Article 49.25 of this
3-22 code.
3-23 SECTION 2. Section 3, Article 49.25, Code of Criminal
3-24 Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
3-25 Sec. 3. Assistants; STATUS AS PEACE OFFICERS. (a) The
3-26 medical examiner may, subject to the approval of the commissioners
3-27 court, employ such deputy examiners, scientific experts, trained
4-1 technicians, officers and employees as may be necessary to the
4-2 proper performance of the duties imposed by this Article upon the
4-3 medical examiner.
4-4 (b) The medical examiner may commission investigators, other
4-5 medical examiners, and field agents as peace officers. An
4-6 investigator, medical examiner, or field agent may not be
4-7 commissioned as a peace officer under this subsection unless the
4-8 investigator, medical examiner, or field agent meets all standards
4-9 for certification as a peace officer by the Commission on Law
4-10 Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. A peace officer
4-11 commissioned under this Article has all the rights, privileges,
4-12 powers, and duties of any other peace officer in this state while
4-13 the investigator, other medical examiner, or field agent is in the
4-14 actual course and scope of the person's employment.
4-15 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-16 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-17 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-18 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-19 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-20 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-21 passage, and it is so enacted.