By Dutton H.B. No. 1812 74R6583 PAM-D A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the authority of law enforcement personnel employed by 1-3 certain mass transit authorities to enforce traffic laws. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Section 13(c), Chapter 141, Acts of the 63rd 1-6 Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 1118x, Vernon's Texas 1-7 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows: 1-8 (c)(1) An authority may employ and commission its own peace 1-9 officers with power to make arrests in all counties where the 1-10 system is located when necessary to prevent or abate the commission 1-11 of an offense against the laws of the state or a political 1-12 subdivision of the state when the offense or threatened offense 1-13 occurs on or involves the system of the authority, to make arrests 1-14 in cases of an offense involving injury or detriment to the system, 1-15 to enforce all traffic laws and investigate traffic accidents which 1-16 involve or occur in the system except as provided by Subdivision 1-17 (2) of this subsection, and to provide emergency and public safety 1-18 services to the system or persons who use the system. 1-19 (2) A peace officer of an authority in which the 1-20 principal city has a population of more than 1.5 million may not 1-21 make an arrest, issue a citation, or otherwise enforce the 1-22 following statute or ordinance in a municipality in whose 1-23 jurisdiction the authority operates a vehicle for mass transit 1-24 purposes, unless the governing body of the municipality has given 2-1 its written approval to those actions of the peace officer: 2-2 (A) the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on 2-3 Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); or 2-4 (B) a municipal or county ordinance regulating 2-5 traffic. 2-6 (3) Any person, for an authority in which the 2-7 principal city has a population of more than 1.5 million according 2-8 to the most recent decennial census, commissioned under this 2-9 section must be a certified peace officer who meets the 2-10 requirements of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer 2-11 Standards and Education, who shall file with the authority the 2-12 sworn oath required of peace officers, and who is vested with all 2-13 the powers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers in all 2-14 counties where the system is located, provides services, or is 2-15 supported by a general sales and use tax. 2-16 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 2-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-22 passage, and it is so enacted.