1-1  By:  Whitmire                                         S.B. No. 1089
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed March 9, 1995; March 14, 1995, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs; May 5, 1995,
    1-4  reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 12, Nays 0;
    1-5  May 5, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the applicability of certain traffic laws to peace
    1-9  officers on horseback.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Section 25, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
   1-12  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
   1-13  to read as follows:
   1-14        Sec. 25.  Traffic Laws Apply to Persons Riding Animals or
   1-15  Driving Animal-Drawn Vehicles.  (a)  Every person riding an animal
   1-16  or driving any animal-drawn vehicle upon a roadway shall be granted
   1-17  all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties
   1-18  applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this Act, except those
   1-19  provisions of this Act which by their very nature can have no
   1-20  application and except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
   1-21  section.
   1-22        (b)  A peace officer who is riding a horse in the actual
   1-23  discharge of the officer's official duties may:
   1-24              (1)  disregard regulations governing direction of
   1-25  movement or turning in specified directions;
   1-26              (2)  cross a roadway:
   1-27                    (A)  at a location other than a marked crosswalk;
   1-28  or
   1-29                    (B)  between adjacent intersections at which
   1-30  traffic-control signals are in operation;
   1-31              (3)  ride or stop the horse on a sidewalk; and
   1-32              (4)  when responding to an emergency call or when in
   1-33  pursuit of an actual or suspected violator, proceed past a red or
   1-34  stop signal or stop sign, but only after slowing the horse as may
   1-35  be necessary for the safety of the officer and others.
   1-36        (c)  A peace officer who is riding a horse and is engaged in
   1-37  conduct described by Subsection (b) of this section has the same
   1-38  duty and potential liability as the operator of an authorized
   1-39  emergency vehicle under Section 24(e) of this Act.
   1-40        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-41  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-42  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-43  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-44  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-45  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-46  passage, and it is so enacted.
   1-47                               * * * * *