1-1  By:  Cain                                              S.B. No. 876
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed March 2, 1995; March 6, 1995, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
    1-4  Relations; March 22, 1995, reported favorably by the following
    1-5  vote:  Yeas 10, Nays 0; March 22, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the authority of a municipality to  implement a
    1-9  photographic preferential traffic lane enforcement system;
   1-10  providing for imposition of a civil penalty.
   1-11        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-12        SECTION 1.  DEFINITIONS.  In this Act:
   1-13              (1)  "Photographic preferential traffic lane
   1-14  enforcement system" means a system that:
   1-15                    (A)  consists of a photographic camera and
   1-16  vehicle sensor; and
   1-17                    (B)  automatically produces one or more
   1-18  photographs of a vehicle using a preferential traffic lane.
   1-19              (2)  "Preferential traffic lane" means a traffic lane
   1-20  on a street or highway where motor vehicle usage is limited to
   1-21  buses, vehicles occupied by a minimum number of persons, or car
   1-22  pool vehicles.
   1-23        SECTION 2.  PHOTOGRAPHIC PREFERENTIAL TRAFFIC LANE
   1-24  ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM.  (a)  A municipality by ordinance may implement
   1-25  a photographic preferential traffic lane enforcement system and
   1-26  provide that the owner of a motor vehicle is liable for a civil
   1-27  penalty if the vehicle is operated in violation of a limitation
   1-28  imposed on the usage of a preferential traffic lane.
   1-29        (b)  Sections 2 through 8, except Subdivisions (4) and (5),
   1-30  Section 5, Article 6701d-24, Revised Statutes, apply to an
   1-31  ordinance adopted under this Act as if a violation described in
   1-32  Subsection (a) of this section were a violation of a municipal
   1-33  ordinance relating to the parking or stopping of vehicles under
   1-34  Section 1 of that article.
   1-35        (c)  An ordinance adopted under this Act may provide that a
   1-36  photograph taken by a photographic preferential traffic lane
   1-37  enforcement system is admissible in an administrative adjudication
   1-38  hearing and is evidence sufficient to support a finding that the
   1-39  vehicle identified by the photograph was operated in violation of
   1-40  the limitation imposed on the usage of the preferential traffic
   1-41  lane.
   1-42        SECTION 3.  IMPLEMENTATION OF SYSTEM.  A municipality that
   1-43  implements a photographic preferential traffic lane enforcement
   1-44  system under this Act may:
   1-45              (1)  install and operate the system; or
   1-46              (2)  contract for the installation or operation of the
   1-47  system.
   1-48        SECTION 4.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect September
   1-49  1, 1995.
   1-50        SECTION 5.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
   1-51  and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-52  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-53  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-54  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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