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.