By:  Armbrister                                        S.B. No. 317
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the authority of a municipality to implement a
    1-2  photographic traffic-control system; providing for imposition of a
    1-3  civil penalty.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  DEFINITIONS.  In this Act:
    1-6              (1)  "Photographic traffic-control system" means a
    1-7  system that:
    1-8                    (A)  consists of a photographic camera and
    1-9  vehicle sensor installed to work in conjunction with an
   1-10  electrically operated traffic-control signal; and
   1-11                    (B)  automatically produces one or more
   1-12  photographs of a vehicle that is not operated in compliance with
   1-13  the instructions of the traffic-control signal.
   1-14              (2)  "Traffic-control signal" has the meaning assigned
   1-15  by Section 18(b), Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways
   1-16  (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
   1-17        SECTION 2.  PHOTOGRAPHIC TRAFFIC-CONTROL SYSTEM.  (a)  A
   1-18  municipality by ordinance may implement a photographic
   1-19  traffic-control system and provide that the owner of a motor
   1-20  vehicle is liable for a civil penalty if, while facing a steady red
   1-21  light on an electrically operated traffic-control signal, the
   1-22  vehicle is operated in violation of the instructions of that
   1-23  traffic-control signal, as specified by Section 33(c), Uniform Act
    2-1  Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil
    2-2  Statutes).
    2-3        (b)  Sections 2-8, except Sections 5(4) and 5(5), Article
    2-4  6701d-24, Revised Statutes, apply to an ordinance adopted under
    2-5  this Act as if a violation described in Subsection (a) of this
    2-6  section were a violation of a municipal ordinance relating to the
    2-7  parking or stopping of vehicles under Section 1 of that article.
    2-8        (c)  An ordinance adopted under this Act may provide that:
    2-9              (1)  a photograph taken by a photographic
   2-10  traffic-control system is admissible in an administrative
   2-11  adjudication hearing and is evidence sufficient to support a
   2-12  finding that the vehicle identified by the photograph was operated
   2-13  in violation of the instructions of an electrically operated
   2-14  traffic-control signal; and
   2-15              (2)  the owner of a vehicle is not liable for a civil
   2-16  penalty under the ordinance if at the time the vehicle was operated
   2-17  in violation of the instructions of the traffic-control device:
   2-18                    (A)  the owner of the vehicle was a person in the
   2-19  business of renting or leasing motor vehicles and the vehicle was
   2-20  being operated by the lessee of the vehicle under a written rental
   2-21  or lease agreement; or
   2-22                    (B)  the vehicle was a stolen vehicle and being
   2-23  operated without the effective consent of the owner.
   2-24        SECTION 3.  IMPLEMENTATION OF SYSTEM.  A municipality that
   2-25  implements a photographic traffic-control system under this Act
    3-1  may:
    3-2              (1)  install and operate the system; or
    3-3              (2)  contract for the installation or operation of the
    3-4  system.
    3-5        SECTION 4.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect
    3-6  September 1, 1995.
    3-7        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-8  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-9  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-10  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-11  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.