By Dutton                                              H.B. No. 758
         76R1677 JD-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the right of a person arrested for the offense of
 1-3     public intoxication to request an analysis of the person's blood or
 1-4     breath to determine intoxication.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 49.02, Penal Code, is amended by adding
 1-7     Subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i) to read as follows:
 1-8           (f)  A person arrested for an offense under this section, on
 1-9     request to the arresting officer within a reasonable time not to
1-10     exceed two hours after the arrest, is entitled to:
1-11                 (1)  have a physician, qualified technician, chemist,
1-12     or registered professional nurse of the person's own choice draw a
1-13     specimen and have an analysis made of the person's blood; or
1-14                 (2)  on payment of the required fee, provide a breath
1-15     specimen and have an analysis made of the person's breath.
1-16           (g)  A breath specimen taken at the request of the person
1-17     arrested must be taken and analyzed under rules of the Department
1-18     of Public Safety of the State of Texas by an individual possessing
1-19     a certificate issued by that department certifying that the
1-20     individual is qualified to perform the analysis.
1-21           (h)  An analysis made under Subsection (f) is admissible on
1-22     the trial of the offense to prove the extent if any to which the
1-23     person was under the influence of alcohol or other substance at the
1-24     time of the arrest.  The refusal or inability of the arresting
 2-1     officer to comply with a person's request under Subsection (f) is
 2-2     admissible on the trial of the offense.
 2-3           (i)  The Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas by
 2-4     rule shall prescribe the amount of the required fee for an analysis
 2-5     of a person's breath requested under Subsection (f)(2).  The fee
 2-6     may not exceed an amount that is equal to the average cost to the
 2-7     department in the preceding fiscal year of analyzing a breath
 2-8     specimen taken by the department under Chapter 724, Transportation
 2-9     Code.
2-10           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-15     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-16     passage, and it is so enacted.