By: Leedom S.B. No. 149
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to commissioning peace officers to protect persons and
1-2 property at housing authorities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 392, Local Government Code,
1-5 is amended by adding Section 392.066 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 392.066. PEACE OFFICERS. (a) A municipality in which
1-7 a housing authority is operated may commission and employ peace
1-8 officers to protect persons and property at housing projects
1-9 operated by the authority and located within the territorial
1-10 boundaries of the municipality.
1-11 (b) A person may not be commissioned as a peace officer
1-12 under this section unless the person meets all standards for
1-13 licensing as a peace officer established by the Commission on Law
1-14 Enforcement Officer Standards and Education.
1-15 (c) The primary jurisdiction of a peace officer commissioned
1-16 by a municipality under this section includes:
1-17 (1) the property of a housing project located within
1-18 the territorial boundaries of the municipality; and
1-19 (2) any public street or alley that is contiguous to
1-20 property of a housing project but does not extend beyond the
1-21 property of the housing project.
1-22 (d) Within a peace officer's primary jurisdiction, a peace
1-23 officer commissioned under this section:
2-1 (1) is vested with all the powers, privileges, and
2-2 immunities of peace officers;
2-3 (2) may, in accordance with Chapter 14, Code of
2-4 Criminal Procedure, arrest without a warrant any person who
2-5 violates a law of the state; and
2-6 (3) may enforce all traffic laws on streets and
2-7 highways.
2-8 (e) Outside a peace officer's primary jurisdiction, a peace
2-9 officer commissioned under this section is vested with all the
2-10 powers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers and may arrest
2-11 any person who violates any law of the state if the peace officer:
2-12 (1) is summoned by a law enforcement agency to provide
2-13 assistance; or
2-14 (2) is assisting a law enforcement agency.
2-15 SECTION 2. Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
2-16 amended to read as follows:
2-17 Art. 2.12. WHO ARE PEACE OFFICERS. The following are peace
2-18 officers:
2-19 (1) sheriffs and their deputies;
2-20 (2) constables and deputy constables;
2-21 (3) marshals or police officers of an incorporated
2-22 city, town, or village;
2-23 (4) rangers and officers commissioned by the Public
2-24 Safety Commission and the Director of the Department of Public
2-25 Safety;
3-1 (5) investigators of the district attorneys', criminal
3-2 district attorneys', and county attorneys' offices;
3-3 (6) law enforcement agents of the Texas Alcoholic
3-4 Beverage Commission;
3-5 (7) each member of an arson investigating unit
3-6 commissioned by a city, a county, or the state;
3-7 (8) officers commissioned under Subchapter E, Chapter
3-8 51, Education Code;
3-9 (9) officers commissioned by the <State Purchasing
3-10 and> General Services Commission;
3-11 (10) law enforcement officers commissioned by the
3-12 Parks and Wildlife Commission;
3-13 (11) airport police officers commissioned by a city
3-14 with a population of more than one million, according to the most
3-15 recent federal census, that operates an airport that serves
3-16 commercial air carriers;
3-17 (12) airport security personnel commissioned as peace
3-18 officers by the governing body of any political subdivision of this
3-19 state, other than a city described by Subdivision (11), that
3-20 operates an airport that serves commercial air carriers;
3-21 (13) municipal park and recreational patrolmen and
3-22 security officers;
3-23 (14) security officers commissioned as peace officers
3-24 by the State Treasurer;
3-25 (15) officers commissioned by a water control and
4-1 improvement district under Section 51.132, Water Code;
4-2 (16) officers commissioned by a board of trustees
4-3 under Chapter 341, Acts of the 57th Legislature, Regular Session,
4-4 1961 (Article 1187f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes);
4-5 (17) investigators commissioned by the Texas State
4-6 Board of Medical Examiners;
4-7 (18) officers commissioned by the board of managers of
4-8 the Dallas County Hospital District, the Tarrant County Hospital
4-9 District, or the Bexar County Hospital District under Section
4-10 281.057, Health and Safety Code;
4-11 (19) county park rangers commissioned under Subchapter
4-12 E, Chapter 351, Local Government Code;
4-13 (20) investigators employed by the Texas Racing
4-14 Commission;
4-15 (21) officers commissioned by the State Board of
4-16 Pharmacy;
4-17 (22) officers commissioned by the governing body of a
4-18 metropolitan rapid transit authority under Section 13, Chapter 141,
4-19 Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 1118x,
4-20 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or by a regional transportation
4-21 authority under Section 10, Chapter 683, Acts of the 66th
4-22 Legislature, Regular Session, 1979 (Article 1118y, Vernon's Texas
4-23 Civil Statutes);
4-24 (23) officers commissioned by the Texas High-Speed
4-25 Rail Authority;
5-1 (24) investigators commissioned by the attorney
5-2 general under Section 402.009, Government Code; <and>
5-3 (25) security officers and investigators commissioned
5-4 as peace officers under the State Lottery Act; and
5-5 (26) persons commissioned to protect persons and
5-6 property at a housing authority under Section 392.066, Local
5-7 Government Code.
5-8 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-14 passage, and it is so enacted.