By:  Cain                                              S.B. No. 876
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the authority of a municipality to  implement a
    1-2  photographic preferential traffic lane enforcement system;
    1-3  providing for imposition of a 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 preferential traffic lane
    1-7  enforcement system" means a system that:
    1-8                    (A)  consists of a photographic camera and
    1-9  vehicle sensor; and
   1-10                    (B)  automatically produces one or more
   1-11  photographs of a vehicle using a preferential traffic lane.
   1-12              (2)  "Preferential traffic lane" means a traffic lane
   1-13  on a street or highway where motor vehicle usage is limited to
   1-14  buses, vehicles occupied by a minimum number of persons, or car
   1-15  pool vehicles.
   1-16        SECTION 2.  PHOTOGRAPHIC PREFERENTIAL TRAFFIC LANE
   1-17  ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM.  (a)  A municipality by ordinance may implement
   1-18  a photographic preferential traffic lane enforcement system and
   1-19  provide that the owner of a motor vehicle is liable for a civil
   1-20  penalty if the vehicle is operated in violation of a limitation as
   1-21  to the type or class of vehicle that is permitted to use a
   1-22  preferential traffic lane.
   1-23        (b)  Sections 2 through 8, except Subdivisions (4) and (5),
   1-24  Section 5, Article 6701d-24, Revised Statutes, apply to an
    2-1  ordinance adopted under this Act as if a violation described in
    2-2  Subsection (a) of this section were a violation of a municipal
    2-3  ordinance relating to the parking or stopping of vehicles under
    2-4  Section 1 of that article.
    2-5        (c)  An ordinance adopted under this Act may provide that a
    2-6  photograph taken by a photographic preferential traffic lane
    2-7  enforcement system is admissible in an administrative adjudication
    2-8  hearing and is evidence sufficient to support a finding that the
    2-9  vehicle identified by the photograph was operated in violation of
   2-10  the limitation as to the type or class of vehicle that is permitted
   2-11  to use the preferential traffic lane.
   2-12        SECTION 3.  IMPLEMENTATION OF SYSTEM.  A municipality that
   2-13  implements a photographic preferential traffic lane enforcement
   2-14  system under this Act may:
   2-15              (1)  install and operate the system; or
   2-16              (2)  contract for the installation or operation of the
   2-17  system.
   2-18        SECTION 4.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect September
   2-19  1, 1995.
   2-20        SECTION 5.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
   2-21  and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-22  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-23  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-24  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.