By: Moncrief S.B. No. 841
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to authorizing certain courts to employ peace officers.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Chapter 53, Government Code, is amended by adding
1-4 Subchapter F to read as follows:
1-5 SUBCHAPTER F. APPELLATE COURT PEACE OFFICERS
1-6 Sec. 53.091. EMPLOYMENT. (a) The supreme court, the court
1-7 of criminal appeals, and each of the courts of appeals may employ
1-8 and commission a peace officer to protect the court.
1-9 (b) A peace officer commissioned under this section holds
1-10 office at the will of the court served by the officer.
1-11 (c) 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 by the Commission on Law Enforcement
1-14 Officer Standards and Education.
1-15 Sec. 53.092. POWERS AND DUTIES. Any peace officer
1-16 commissioned under this section shall be vested with all the
1-17 rights, privileges, obligations, and duties of any other peace
1-18 officer in this state while on the property under the control of
1-19 the court or acting in the actual course and scope of employment.
1-20 SECTION 2. Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-21 amended to read as follows:
1-22 Art. 2.12. WHO ARE PEACE OFFICERS. The following are peace
1-23 officers:
2-1 (1) sheriffs and their deputies;
2-2 (2) constables and deputy constables;
2-3 (3) marshals or police officers of an incorporated
2-4 city, town, or village;
2-5 (4) rangers and officers commissioned by the Public
2-6 Safety Commission and the Director of the Department of Public
2-7 Safety;
2-8 (5) investigators of the district attorneys', criminal
2-9 district attorneys', and county attorneys' offices;
2-10 (6) law enforcement agents of the Texas Alcoholic
2-11 Beverage Commission;
2-12 (7) each member of an arson investigating unit
2-13 commissioned by a city, a county, or the state;
2-14 (8) officers commissioned under Subchapter E, Chapter
2-15 51, Education Code;
2-16 (9) officers commissioned by the State Purchasing and
2-17 General Services Commission;
2-18 (10) law enforcement officers commissioned by the
2-19 Parks and Wildlife Commission;
2-20 (11) airport police officers commissioned by a city
2-21 with a population of more than one million, according to the most
2-22 recent federal census, that operates an airport that serves
2-23 commercial air carriers;
2-24 (12) airport security personnel commissioned as peace
2-25 officers by the governing body of any political subdivision of this
3-1 state, other than a city described by Subdivision (11), that
3-2 operates an airport that serves commercial air carriers;
3-3 (13) municipal park and recreational patrolmen and
3-4 security officers;
3-5 (14) security officers commissioned as peace officers
3-6 by the State Treasurer;
3-7 (15) officers commissioned by a water control and
3-8 improvement district under Section 51.132, Water Code;
3-9 (16) officers commissioned by a board of trustees
3-10 under Chapter 341, Acts of the 57th Legislature, Regular Session,
3-11 1961 (Article 1187f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes);
3-12 (17) investigators commissioned by the Texas State
3-13 Board of Medical Examiners;
3-14 (18) officers commissioned by the board of managers of
3-15 the Dallas County Hospital District, the Tarrant County Hospital
3-16 District, or the Bexar County Hospital District under Section
3-17 281.057, Health and Safety Code;
3-18 (19) county park rangers commissioned under Subchapter
3-19 E, Chapter 351, Local Government Code;
3-20 (20) investigators employed by the Texas Racing
3-21 Commission;
3-22 (21) officers commissioned by the State Board of
3-23 Pharmacy;
3-24 (22) officers commissioned by the governing body of a
3-25 metropolitan rapid transit authority under Section 13, Chapter 141,
4-1 Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 1118x,
4-2 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or by a regional transportation
4-3 authority under Section 10, Chapter 683, Acts of the 66th
4-4 Legislature, Regular Session, 1979 (Article 1118y, Vernon's Texas
4-5 Civil Statutes);
4-6 (23) officers commissioned by the Texas High-Speed
4-7 Rail Authority;
4-8 (24) investigators commissioned by the attorney
4-9 general under Section 402.009, Government Code; <and>
4-10 (25) security officers and investigators commissioned
4-11 as peace officers under the State Lottery Act; and
4-12 (26) officers appointed by an appellate court under
4-13 Subchapter F, Chapter 53, Government Code.
4-14 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
4-15 SECTION 4. 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.