By: Whitmire S.B. No. 1089 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT 1-1 relating to the applicability of certain traffic laws to peace 1-2 officers on horseback. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Section 25, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on 1-5 Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended 1-6 to read as follows: 1-7 Sec. 25. Traffic Laws Apply to Persons Riding Animals or 1-8 Driving Animal-Drawn Vehicles. (a) Every person riding an animal 1-9 or driving any animal-drawn vehicle upon a roadway shall be granted 1-10 all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties 1-11 applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this Act, except those 1-12 provisions of this Act which by their very nature can have no 1-13 application and except as provided by Subsection (b) of this 1-14 section. 1-15 (b) A peace officer who is riding a horse in the actual 1-16 discharge of the officer's official duties may: 1-17 (1) disregard regulations governing direction of 1-18 movement or turning in specified directions; 1-19 (2) cross a roadway: 1-20 (A) at a location other than a marked crosswalk; 1-21 or 1-22 (B) between adjacent intersections at which 1-23 traffic-control signals are in operation; 1-24 (3) ride or stop the horse on a sidewalk; and 2-1 (4) when responding to an emergency call or when in 2-2 pursuit of an actual or suspected violator, proceed past a red or 2-3 stop signal or stop sign, but only after slowing the horse as may 2-4 be necessary for the safety of the officer and others. 2-5 (c) A peace officer who is riding a horse and is engaged in 2-6 conduct described by Subsection (b) of this section has the same 2-7 duty and potential liability as the operator of an authorized 2-8 emergency vehicle under Section 24(e) of this Act. 2-9 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 2-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-14 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-15 passage, and it is so enacted.