By Hunter of Nueces                                   H.B. No. 1561
       74R3363 DLF-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to liability of a peace officer and a governmental unit
    1-3  employing the peace officer for certain damages resulting from
    1-4  pursuit by the officer.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Section 24(e), Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
    1-7  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
    1-8  to read as follows:
    1-9        (e)  The foregoing provisions shall not relieve the driver of
   1-10  an authorized emergency vehicle from the duty to drive with due
   1-11  regard for the safety of all persons, nor shall such provisions
   1-12  protect the driver from the consequences of his reckless disregard
   1-13  for the safety of others.  Notwithstanding Chapter 101, Civil
   1-14  Practice and Remedies Code, or any other law, a peace officer or a
   1-15  governmental unit that employs the officer is not liable for
   1-16  personal injury, property damage, or death resulting from the
   1-17  operation of a motor vehicle by a suspect whom the officer is
   1-18  pursuing or has been pursuing or who believes an officer is in
   1-19  pursuit, if the officer acts within the course and scope of the
   1-20  officer's employment and conducts the pursuit in good faith.  A
   1-21  peace officer conducts a pursuit in good faith if:
   1-22              (1)  the officer believes that the need to immediately
   1-23  apprehend the suspect outweighs the risk of harm to the public in
   1-24  continuing the pursuit; or
    2-1              (2)  a reasonably prudent officer, under the same or
    2-2  similar circumstances, would have believed that the need to
    2-3  immediately apprehend the suspect outweighed the risk of harm to
    2-4  the public in continuing the pursuit.
    2-5        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
    2-6  applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that
    2-7  date.  An action that accrued before the effective date of this Act
    2-8  is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the
    2-9  effective date of this Act and that law is continued in effect for
   2-10  that purpose.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-12  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-13  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-14  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-15  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.