1-1 By: Armbrister S.B. No. 317
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed January 25, 1995; January 26, 1995,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
1-4 Relations; April 19, 1995, reported adversely, with favorable
1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0;
1-6 April 19, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 317 By: Wentworth
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the authority of a municipality to implement a
1-11 photographic traffic-control system; providing for imposition of a
1-12 civil penalty.
1-13 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-14 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. In this Act:
1-15 (1) "Photographic traffic-control system" means a
1-16 system that:
1-17 (A) consists of a photographic camera and
1-18 vehicle sensor installed to work in conjunction with an
1-19 electrically operated traffic-control signal; and
1-20 (B) automatically produces one or more
1-21 photographs of a vehicle that is not operated in compliance with
1-22 the instructions of the traffic-control signal.
1-23 (2) "Traffic-control signal" has the meaning assigned
1-24 by Subsection (b), Section 18, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
1-25 Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
1-26 SECTION 2. PHOTOGRAPHIC TRAFFIC-CONTROL SYSTEM. (a) A
1-27 municipality by ordinance may implement a photographic
1-28 traffic-control system and provide that the owner of a motor
1-29 vehicle is liable for a civil penalty if, while facing a steady red
1-30 light on an electrically operated traffic-control signal, the
1-31 vehicle is operated in violation of the instructions of that
1-32 traffic-control signal, as specified by Subsection (c), Section 33,
1-33 Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's
1-34 Texas Civil Statutes).
1-35 (b) Sections 2 through 8, except Subdivisions (4) and (5),
1-36 Section 5, Article 6701d-24, Revised Statutes, apply to an
1-37 ordinance adopted under this Act as if a violation described in
1-38 Subsection (a) of this section were a violation of a municipal
1-39 ordinance relating to the parking or stopping of vehicles under
1-40 Section 1 of that article.
1-41 (c) If a municipality adopts an ordinance under this Act,
1-42 the ordinance must prescribe the amount of the civil penalty. The
1-43 amount of the civil penalty may not exceed the maximum fine
1-44 prescribed by the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways
1-45 (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) for a violation of
1-46 Subsection (c) of Section 33 of that Act.
1-47 (d) An ordinance adopted under this Act may provide that:
1-48 (1) a photograph taken by a photographic
1-49 traffic-control system is admissible in an administrative
1-50 adjudication hearing and is evidence sufficient to support a
1-51 finding that the vehicle identified by the photograph was operated
1-52 in violation of the instructions of an electrically operated
1-53 traffic-control signal; and
1-54 (2) the owner of a vehicle is not liable for a civil
1-55 penalty under the ordinance if at the time the vehicle was operated
1-56 in violation of the instructions of the traffic-control signal:
1-57 (A) the owner of the vehicle was a person in the
1-58 business of renting or leasing motor vehicles and the vehicle was
1-59 being operated by the lessee of the vehicle under a written rental
1-60 or lease agreement; or
1-61 (B) the vehicle was a stolen vehicle and being
1-62 operated without the effective consent of the owner.
1-63 (e) The imposition of a civil penalty on the owner of a
1-64 vehicle that is operated in violation of the instructions of a
1-65 traffic-control signal, as specified by Subsection (c), Section 33,
1-66 Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's
1-67 Texas Civil Statutes), is not a conviction under that Act.
1-68 SECTION 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF SYSTEM. A municipality that
2-1 implements a photographic traffic-control system under this Act
2-2 may:
2-3 (1) install and operate the system; or
2-4 (2) contract for the installation or operation of the
2-5 system.
2-6 SECTION 4. EFFECT OF ACT ON OTHER LAWS. This Act, or an
2-7 ordinance adopted by a municipality under this Act, does not affect
2-8 the enforcement in the municipality of Subsection (c), Section 33,
2-9 Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's
2-10 Texas Civil Statutes). No person shall be liable for a civil
2-11 penalty imposed pursuant to an ordinance adopted under this Act if
2-12 the operator of the motor vehicle has been convicted of violating
2-13 Subsection (c), Section 33, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
2-14 Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), for the
2-15 same violation of the instructions of the same traffic-control
2-16 signal.
2-17 SECTION 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect
2-18 September 1, 1995.
2-19 SECTION 6. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
2-20 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-24 * * * * *