By:  Carriker                                         S.B. No. 1193
       73R4839 RWS-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the participation of appraisal districts in emergency
    1-3  communications programs.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 771.001, Health and Safety Code, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 771.001.  Definitions.  In this chapter:
    1-8              (1)  "Advisory commission" means the Advisory
    1-9  Commission on State Emergency Communications.
   1-10              (2)  "Emergency communication district" means:
   1-11                    (A)  a public agency or group of public agencies
   1-12  acting jointly that provided 9-1-1 service before September 1,
   1-13  1987, or that had voted or contracted before that date to provide
   1-14  that service; or
   1-15                    (B)  a district created under Subchapter B, C, or
   1-16  D, Chapter 772.
   1-17              (3)  "Intrastate long distance service provider" means
   1-18  a telecommunications carrier providing intrastate long distance
   1-19  service, as defined by the advisory commission.
   1-20              (4)  "Local exchange service provider" means a
   1-21  telecommunications carrier providing telecommunications service in
   1-22  a local exchange service area under a certificate of public
   1-23  convenience and necessity issued by the Public Utility Commission
   1-24  of Texas.
    2-1              (5)  "9-1-1 service" means a telecommunications service
    2-2  that provides the user of the public telephone system the ability
    2-3  to reach a public safety answering point by dialing the digits
    2-4  9-1-1.
    2-5              (6)  "Public agency" means the state, a municipality, a
    2-6  county, an emergency communication district, a regional planning
    2-7  commission, an appraisal district, or any other political
    2-8  subdivision or district that provides, participates in the
    2-9  provision of, or has authority to provide fire-fighting, law
   2-10  enforcement, ambulance, medical, 9-1-1, or other emergency
   2-11  services.
   2-12              (7)  "Public safety agency" means the division of a
   2-13  public agency that provides fire-fighting, police, medical, or
   2-14  other emergency services, or a private entity that provides
   2-15  emergency medical or ambulance services.
   2-16              (8)  "Public safety answering point" means a
   2-17  continuously operated communications facility that is assigned the
   2-18  responsibility to receive 9-1-1 calls and, as appropriate, to
   2-19  dispatch public safety services or to extend, transfer, or relay
   2-20  9-1-1 calls to appropriate public safety agencies.
   2-21              (9)  "Regional planning commission" means a commission
   2-22  established under Chapter 391, Local Government Code.
   2-23        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-24  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-25  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-26  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-27  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-1  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-2  passage, and it is so enacted.