1-1  By:  Barrientos                                        S.B. No. 670
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed March 8, 1993; March 9, 1993, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
    1-4  Relations; March 24, 1993, reported adversely, with favorable
    1-5  Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0;
    1-6  March 24, 1993, sent to printer.)
    1-7                            COMMITTEE VOTE
    1-8                          Yea     Nay      PNV      Absent 
    1-9        Armbrister         x                               
   1-10        Leedom             x                               
   1-11        Carriker           x                               
   1-12        Henderson          x                               
   1-13        Madla              x                               
   1-14        Moncrief           x                               
   1-15        Patterson          x                               
   1-16        Rosson             x                               
   1-17        Shapiro            x                               
   1-18        Wentworth          x                               
   1-19        Whitmire           x                               
   1-20  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 670               By:  Armbrister
   1-21                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
   1-22                                AN ACT
   1-23  relating to the authority of a commissioners court to delegate
   1-24  authority to make traffic safety decisions in certain counties.
   1-25        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-26        SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 2.301, County Road and
   1-27  Bridge Act (Article 6702-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
   1-28  amended by amending Subdivision (2) and adding Subdivision (3) to
   1-29  read as follows:
   1-30              (2)  Except as provided by Subdivision (3) of this
   1-31  subsection, the <The> commissioners court shall hold a public
   1-32  hearing before issuing any traffic regulation under this Act.  The
   1-33  court shall give advance notice of the proposed regulation by
   1-34  publishing notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general
   1-35  circulation in the county.  The notice must be published not later
   1-36  than the seventh day or earlier than the 30th day before the day of
   1-37  the hearing.
   1-38              (3)  A commissioners court in a county with a
   1-39  population of more than 500,000, according to the most recent
   1-40  federal census, may delegate any function of the commissioners
   1-41  court under this section to the county engineer or another employee
   1-42  capable of performing the function.  The action of the person in
   1-43  carrying out the delegated function has the same effect as if it
   1-44  were the action of the commissioners court.  Before issuing a
   1-45  traffic regulation under this Act the commissioners court of such a
   1-46  county, as an alternative to publishing any notice required by law
   1-47  other than this Act, may conspicuously post notice of the proposed
   1-48  regulation by sign at any location affected by the proposed
   1-49  regulation.  The commissioners court is not required to hold a
   1-50  public hearing before the regulation is issued unless a resident of
   1-51  the county, in writing, requests the hearing before the eighth day
   1-52  after the later of the date of the publication of the notice, if
   1-53  any, or the date of the posting of the sign.  If a hearing is
   1-54  requested, the commissioners court may not delegate the duty to
   1-55  hold the hearing.
   1-56        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-57  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-58  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-59  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-60  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-61  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-62  passage, and it is so enacted.
   1-63                               * * * * *
   1-64                                                         Austin,
   1-65  Texas
   1-66                                                         March 24, 1993
   1-67  Hon. Bob Bullock
   1-68  President of the Senate
    2-1  Sir:
    2-2  We, your Committee on Intergovernmental Relations to which was
    2-3  referred S.B. No. 670, have had the same under consideration, and I
    2-4  am instructed to report it back to the Senate with the
    2-5  recommendation that it do not pass, but that the Committee
    2-6  Substitute adopted in lieu thereof do pass and be printed.
    2-7                                                         Armbrister,
    2-8  Chairman
    2-9                               * * * * *
   2-10                               WITNESSES
   2-11                                                  FOR   AGAINST  ON
   2-12  ___________________________________________________________________
   2-13  Name:  Valarie Bristol                           x
   2-14  Representing:  Travis County
   2-15  City:  Austin
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