BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 2614 By: Oakley (Luna, G.) State Affairs 5-24-95 Senate Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Currently, it is the duty of every peace officer to preserve the peace within the officer's jurisdiction. However, the jurisdiction of peace officers differs with the agency that they work for. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has changed its interpretation of "jurisdiction" several times in the past 20 years. Officers currently shed their official police power when they cross out of their jurisdiction. Every officer has the jurisdiction to arrest a person anywhere, anytime, for a felony in progress. However, an officer outside the officer's jurisdiction cannot currently arrest a person for a misdemeanor in progress. In practice, this limitation has hampered police officers in their attempts to thwart criminal activities outside of their jurisdiction. PURPOSE As proposed, H.B. 2614 authorizes certain peace officers to arrest a person for a misdemeanor offense, except for traffic violations, anywhere in the state. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Article 14.03, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Subsection (g), to authorize a peace officer who is listed in Subdivision (1), (2), (3), or (4), Article 2.12, is licensed under Chapter 415, Government Code, and is outside of the officer's jurisdiction to arrest without a warrant a person who commits any offense within the officer's presence of view, with an exception. Requires a peace officer making an arrest under this subsection, as soon as practicable after making the arrest, to notify a law enforcement agency having jurisdiction where the arrest is made. Requires the law enforcement agency to then take custody of the person committing the offense and take the person before a magistrate in compliance with Article 14.06. SECTION 2. Amends Section 341.001(e), Local Government Code, to provide that a police officer has the powers, rights, duties, and jurisdiction granted to or imposed on a peace officer by the Code of Criminal Procedure, among other powers and duties. SECTION 3. Amends Section 341.021(e), Local Government Code, to provide that the marshal has the same power and jurisdiction as a peace officer has under the Code of Criminal Procedure, rather than as the county sheriff. SECTION 4. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.