1-1  By:  Finnell (Senate Sponsor - Armbrister)            H.B. No. 1124
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House May 1, 1995;
    1-3  May 2, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on State
    1-4  Affairs; May 16, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
    1-5  Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 16, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the investigation of certain railroad crossing
    1-9  violations reported by a railway employee.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Article XI, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
   1-12  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
   1-13  by adding Section 90A to read as follows:
   1-14        Sec. 90A.  REPORT AND INVESTIGATION OF RAILROAD CROSSING
   1-15  VIOLATION.  (a)  An on-engine employee of a railway company, while
   1-16  on a moving engine, who on site observes a violation of Section 86,
   1-17  87, 88, 89, or 90 of this Act, may, within 72 hours after the
   1-18  violation, allege that the violation occurred by filing a report of
   1-19  the violation, on a form approved by the department, with:
   1-20              (1)  an office of the department located in the county
   1-21  in which the violation occurred;
   1-22              (2)  the sheriff of the county in which the violation
   1-23  occurred, if the violation occurred in the unincorporated area of a
   1-24  county; or
   1-25              (3)  the police department of a municipality, if the
   1-26  violation occurred in the municipality.
   1-27        (b)  A report filed under Subsection (a) of this section must
   1-28  contain, in addition to any other required information:
   1-29              (1)  the date, time, and location of the violation;
   1-30              (2)  the license number and description of the vehicle
   1-31  involved in the violation;
   1-32              (3)  a description of the operator of the vehicle
   1-33  involved in the violation; and
   1-34              (4)  the name, address, and telephone number of the
   1-35  railway employee filing the report.
   1-36        (c)  A peace officer may:
   1-37              (1)  before the seventh day after the date a report
   1-38  under this section is filed, initiate an investigation of the
   1-39  alleged violation; and
   1-40              (2)  request the owner of the reported vehicle, as
   1-41  shown by the registration records of the Texas Department of
   1-42  Transportation, to disclose the name and address of the person who
   1-43  was operating that vehicle at the time of the violation alleged in
   1-44  the report.
   1-45        (d)  Unless the owner of the reported vehicle believes that
   1-46  to provide the peace officer with the name and address of the
   1-47  person operating the vehicle at the time of the alleged offense
   1-48  would incriminate the owner, the owner shall, to the best of the
   1-49  owner's ability, disclose the operator's name and address.
   1-50        (e)  An investigating officer who has probable cause to
   1-51  believe that a charge against an individual for a violation of
   1-52  Section 86, 87, 88, 89, or 90 of this Act is justified may:
   1-53              (1)  prepare a written notice to appear in court that
   1-54  complies with Section 148 of this Act; and
   1-55              (2)  deliver the notice to the individual named in the
   1-56  notice in person or by certified mail.
   1-57        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   1-58        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-59  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-60  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-61  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-62  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   1-63                               * * * * *