H.B. No. 1124
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the investigation of certain railroad crossing
    1-3  violations reported by a railway employee.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article XI, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
    1-6  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
    1-7  by adding Section 90A to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 90A.  REPORT AND INVESTIGATION OF RAILROAD CROSSING
    1-9  VIOLATION.  (a)  An on-engine employee of a railway company, while
   1-10  on a moving engine, who on site observes a violation of Section 86,
   1-11  87, 88, 89, or 90 of this Act, may, within 72 hours after the
   1-12  violation, allege that the violation occurred by filing a report of
   1-13  the violation, on a form approved by the department, with:
   1-14              (1)  an office of the department located in the county
   1-15  in which the violation occurred;
   1-16              (2)  the sheriff of the county in which the violation
   1-17  occurred, if the violation occurred in the unincorporated area of a
   1-18  county; or
   1-19              (3)  the police department of a municipality, if the
   1-20  violation occurred in the municipality.
   1-21        (b)  A report filed under Subsection (a) of this section must
   1-22  contain, in addition to any other required information:
   1-23              (1)  the date, time, and location of the violation;
   1-24              (2)  the license number and description of the vehicle
    2-1  involved in the violation;
    2-2              (3)  a description of the operator of the vehicle
    2-3  involved in the violation; and
    2-4              (4)  the name, address, and telephone number of the
    2-5  railway employee filing the report.
    2-6        (c)  A peace officer may:
    2-7              (1)  before the seventh day after the date a report
    2-8  under this section is filed, initiate an investigation of the
    2-9  alleged violation; and
   2-10              (2)  request the owner of the reported vehicle, as
   2-11  shown by the registration records of the Texas Department of
   2-12  Transportation, to disclose the name and address of the person who
   2-13  was operating that vehicle at the time of the violation alleged in
   2-14  the report.
   2-15        (d)  Unless the owner of the reported vehicle believes that
   2-16  to provide the peace officer with the name and address of the
   2-17  person operating the vehicle at the time of the alleged offense
   2-18  would incriminate the owner, the owner shall, to the best of the
   2-19  owner's ability, disclose the operator's name and address.
   2-20        (e)  An investigating officer who has probable cause to
   2-21  believe that a charge against an individual for a violation of
   2-22  Section 86, 87, 88, 89, or 90 of this Act is justified may:
   2-23              (1)  prepare a written notice to appear in court that
   2-24  complies with Section 148 of this Act; and
   2-25              (2)  deliver the notice to the individual named in the
   2-26  notice in person or by certified mail.
   2-27        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    3-1        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-2  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-3  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-4  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-5  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.