74R9520 PEP-D
          By Bailey                                             H.B. No. 2226
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of a law enforcement officer commissioned
    1-3  by the Department of Public Safety to wear  a uniform purchased
    1-4  from the state while providing law enforcement services for
    1-5  entities other than the department.
    1-6        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-7        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 411, Government Code, is
    1-8  amended by adding Section 411.0078 to read as follows:
    1-9        Sec. 411.0078.  USE OF UNIFORM WHILE PERFORMING CERTAIN
   1-10  OFF-DUTY ACTIVITIES.  (a)  An officer commissioned by the
   1-11  department may  purchase from the department at fair market value a
   1-12  uniform to be used by the officer while providing law enforcement
   1-13  services for a person or entity other than the  department.  If an
   1-14  officer who purchased a uniform under this subsection leaves the
   1-15  service of the department for any reason, the officer shall return
   1-16  the uniform to the department.  The department shall pay the
   1-17  officer the fair market value of the uniform at the time it is
   1-18  returned.  For purposes of this subsection:
   1-19              (1)  a uniform does not include a handgun or other
   1-20  weapon; and
   1-21              (2)  the fair market value of a uniform is determined
   1-22  by the department.
   1-23        (b)  An officer wearing a uniform purchased under Subsection
   1-24  (a) may not act in a manner that adversely affects the operations
    2-1  or reputation of the department.
    2-2        (c)  The department shall adopt reasonable guidelines
    2-3  regarding:
    2-4              (1)  the types of law enforcement services for which an
    2-5  officer may purchase and wear a uniform under Subsection (a) and
    2-6  the circumstances under which the officer may perform those
    2-7  services; and
    2-8              (2)  the standards of behavior to be maintained by an
    2-9  officer who wears a uniform purchased under Subsection (a).
   2-10        SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 101, Civil Practice and
   2-11  Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 101.058 to read as
   2-12  follows:
   2-13        Sec. 101.058.  NEGLIGENCE OF OFF-DUTY LAW ENFORCEMENT
   2-14  OFFICERS.  This chapter does not apply to the wrongful act or
   2-15  omission or the negligence of an officer commissioned by the
   2-16  Department of Public Safety if the officer was not on active duty
   2-17  at the time the act, omission, or negligence occurred.  This
   2-18  section applies without regard to whether the officer was wearing a
   2-19  uniform purchased under Section 411.0078, Government Code, at the
   2-20  time the act, omission, or negligence occurred.
   2-21        SECTION 3.  Section 101.058, Civil Practice and Remedies
   2-22  Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a cause of action that
   2-23  accrues on or after the effective date of this Act.  An action that
   2-24  accrued before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
   2-25  law as it existed immediately before the effective date of this
   2-26  Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-27        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    3-1        SECTION 5.  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.