By:  Cain                                             S.B. No. 1512
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the implementation of an automated highway-railroad
    1-2  grade crossing enforcement system demonstration project.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  DEFINITIONS.  In this Act:
    1-5              (1)  "Automated highway-railroad grade crossing
    1-6  enforcement system" means a system that:
    1-7                    (A)  consists of a photographic camera and
    1-8  vehicle sensor installed to work in conjunction with an automatic
    1-9  gate installed at a grade crossing; and
   1-10                    (B)  automatically produces one or more
   1-11  photographs of a vehicle that does not stop at the automatic gate
   1-12  or that proceeds past the automatic gate when movement past the
   1-13  gate cannot be made safely.
   1-14              (2)  "Automatic gate" means a traffic control device
   1-15  that consists of a drive mechanism and a gate arm that in the down
   1-16  position extends across a traffic lane approaching a grade crossing
   1-17  of a public highway and that is activated immediately upon
   1-18  detection of the approach of a train.
   1-19              (3)  "Department" means the Texas Department of
   1-20  Transportation.
   1-21              (4)  "Grade crossing" means the intersection of a
   1-22  railroad and a public highway at grade.
   1-23              (5)  "Public highway" means a publicly maintained way
   1-24  that is open to the public for vehicular traffic.
    2-1        SECTION 2.  INSTALLATION OF AUTOMATED HIGHWAY-RAILROAD GRADE
    2-2  CROSSING ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM.  (a)  As a demonstration project, the
    2-3  department  shall install and operate an automated highway-railroad
    2-4  grade crossing enforcement system in conjunction with no more than
    2-5  10 automatic gates in this state.
    2-6        (b)  The designated automatic gates shall be selected by a
    2-7  committee that consists of one representative chosen by each of the
    2-8  following:
    2-9              (1)  the department;
   2-10              (2)  the Department of Public Safety;
   2-11              (3)  the Railroad Commission of Texas; and
   2-12              (4)  railroad companies operating in this state.
   2-13        (c)  The department shall pay costs associated with the
   2-14  demonstration project required by this Act from money appropriated
   2-15  to the department for the installation and maintenance of automatic
   2-16  gates on public highways in this state.
   2-17        SECTION 3.  TERM OF PROJECT.  The department shall conclude
   2-18  the demonstration project required by this Act on August 31, 1997.
   2-19        SECTION 4.  REPORT.  (a)  Following the conclusion of the
   2-20  demonstration project, the committee described by Subsection (b),
   2-21  Section 2, of this Act shall prepare a comprehensive report on the
   2-22  results of the project and make recommendations regarding the
   2-23  continued use of automated highway-railroad grade crossing
   2-24  enforcement systems in this state.
   2-25        (b)  The committee shall before January 1, 1998, deliver the
   2-26  report to the governor, the legislature, and the director of the
   2-27  Legislative Budget Board.
    3-1        SECTION 5.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect September
    3-2  1, 1995.
    3-3        SECTION 6.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
    3-4  and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.