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 * * * * *