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.