1-1     By:  Shapiro                                          S.B. No. 1233

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1997; March 17, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental

 1-4     Relations; April 8, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:

 1-5     Yeas 11, Nays 0; April 8, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to exemption from inscription requirements for an

 1-9     automobile used by a municipal or county medical examiner.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsections (a) and (b), Section 721.005,

1-12     Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:

1-13           (a)  The governing body of a municipality may exempt from the

1-14     requirements of Section 721.004 an automobile when used to perform

1-15     an official duty by a:

1-16                 (1)  police department; [or]

1-17                 (2)  magistrate as defined by Article 2.09, Code of

1-18     Criminal Procedure; or

1-19                 (3)  medical examiner.

1-20           (b)  The commissioners court of a county may exempt from the

1-21     requirements of Section 721.004:

1-22                 (1)  an automobile when used to perform an official

1-23     duty by a:

1-24                       (A)  police department;

1-25                       (B)  sheriff's office;

1-26                       (C)  constable's office;

1-27                       (D)  criminal district attorney's office;

1-28                       (E)  district attorney's office;

1-29                       (F)  county attorney's office; [or]

1-30                       (G)  magistrate as defined by Article 2.09, Code

1-31     of Criminal Procedure; or

1-32                       (H)  medical examiner; or

1-33                 (2)  a juvenile probation department vehicle used to

1-34     transport children, when used to perform an official duty.

1-35           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-36     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-37     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-38     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-39     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-40     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-41     passage, and it is so enacted.

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