By: Armbrister S.B. No. 563
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to commissioning certain employees of the Texas Department
1-2 of Health as peace officers.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter K, Chapter 431, Health and Safety
1-5 Code, is amended by adding Section 431.2471 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 431.2471. FOOD AND DRUG PEACE OFFICERS. (a) The board
1-7 may commission department employees as peace officers to administer
1-8 and enforce this chapter.
1-9 (b) The board may not commission a department employee as a
1-10 peace officer under this section unless:
1-11 (1) the employee is employed by the department in the
1-12 food and drug division, if the employee will enforce the food and
1-13 drug portions of this chapter;
1-14 (2) the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer
1-15 Standards and Education certifies the employee as qualified to be a
1-16 peace officer; and
1-17 (3) the commissioner recommends the employee to the
1-18 board as being qualified to enforce the food and drug laws within
1-19 the jurisdiction of the department.
1-20 (c) An employee commissioned as a peace officer under this
1-21 chapter has the powers, privileges, and immunities of a peace
1-22 officer while carrying out the employee's duties under this
1-23 chapter, except that the employee may not carry a firearm.
1-24 SECTION 2. Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
2-1 amended to read as follows:
2-2 Art. 2.12. Who Are Peace Officers. The following are peace
2-3 officers:
2-4 (1) sheriffs and their deputies;
2-5 (2) constables and deputy constables;
2-6 (3) marshals or police officers of an incorporated
2-7 city, town, or village;
2-8 (4) rangers and officers commissioned by the Public
2-9 Safety Commission and the Director of the Department of Public
2-10 Safety;
2-11 (5) investigators of the district attorneys', criminal
2-12 district attorneys', and county attorneys' offices;
2-13 (6) law enforcement agents of the Texas Alcoholic
2-14 Beverage Commission;
2-15 (7) each member of an arson investigating unit
2-16 commissioned by a city, a county, or the state;
2-17 (8) officers commissioned under Subchapter E, Chapter
2-18 51, Education Code;
2-19 (9) officers commissioned by the <State Purchasing
2-20 and> General Services Commission;
2-21 (10) law enforcement officers commissioned by the
2-22 Parks and Wildlife Commission;
2-23 (11) airport police officers commissioned by a city
2-24 with a population of more than one million, according to the most
2-25 recent federal census, that operates an airport that serves
2-26 commercial air carriers;
2-27 (12) airport security personnel commissioned as peace
3-1 officers by the governing body of any political subdivision of this
3-2 state, other than a city described by Subdivision (11), that
3-3 operates an airport that serves commercial air carriers;
3-4 (13) municipal park and recreational patrolmen and
3-5 security officers;
3-6 (14) security officers commissioned as peace officers
3-7 by the State Treasurer;
3-8 (15) officers commissioned by a water control and
3-9 improvement district under Section 51.132, Water Code;
3-10 (16) officers commissioned by a board of trustees
3-11 under Chapter 341, Acts of the 57th Legislature, Regular Session,
3-12 1961 (Article 1187f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes);
3-13 (17) investigators commissioned by the Texas State
3-14 Board of Medical Examiners;
3-15 (18) officers commissioned by the board of managers of
3-16 the Dallas County Hospital District, the Tarrant County Hospital
3-17 District, or the Bexar County Hospital District under Section
3-18 281.057, Health and Safety Code;
3-19 (19) county park rangers commissioned under Subchapter
3-20 E, Chapter 351, Local Government Code;
3-21 (20) investigators employed by the Texas Racing
3-22 Commission;
3-23 (21) officers commissioned by the State Board of
3-24 Pharmacy;
3-25 (22) officers commissioned by the governing body of a
3-26 metropolitan rapid transit authority under Section 13, Chapter 141,
3-27 Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 1118x,
4-1 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or by a regional transportation
4-2 authority under Section 10, Chapter 683, Acts of the 66th
4-3 Legislature, Regular Session, 1979 (Article 1118y, Vernon's Texas
4-4 Civil Statutes);
4-5 (23) officers commissioned by the Texas High-Speed
4-6 Rail Authority;
4-7 (24) investigators commissioned by the attorney
4-8 general under Section 402.009, Government Code; <and>
4-9 (25) security officers and investigators commissioned
4-10 as peace officers under the State Lottery Act; and
4-11 (26) officers commissioned by the Texas Board of
4-12 Health under Section 431.2471, Health and Safety Code.
4-13 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
4-14 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.