By Thompson                                           H.B. No. 1281
         76R4222 DWS-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to a notice to appear for certain traffic offenses.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 543.003, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-5     to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 543.003.  NOTICE TO APPEAR REQUIRED: PERSON NOT TAKEN
 1-7     BEFORE MAGISTRATE.  An officer who arrests a person for a violation
 1-8     of this subtitle punishable as a misdemeanor and who does not take
 1-9     the person before a magistrate shall issue [in duplicate] a written
1-10     notice to appear in court showing the time and place the person is
1-11     to appear, the offense charged, the name and address of the person
1-12     charged, and, if applicable, the license number of the person's
1-13     vehicle.
1-14           SECTION 2.  Section 543.005, Transportation Code, is amended
1-15     to read as follows:
1-16           Sec. 543.005.  PROMISE TO APPEAR; RELEASE.  To secure
1-17     release, the person arrested must make a written promise to appear
1-18     in court by signing [in duplicate] the written notice prepared by
1-19     the arresting officer.  The signature may be obtained on a
1-20     duplicate form or on an electronic device capable of creating a
1-21     copy of the signed  notice.  The arresting officer shall retain the
1-22     paper or electronic original of the notice and deliver the copy of
1-23     the notice to the person arrested.  The officer shall then promptly
1-24     release the person from custody.
 2-1           SECTION 3.  Section 543.007, Transportation Code, is amended
 2-2     to read as follows:
 2-3           Sec. 543.007.  NOTICE TO APPEAR: COMMERCIAL VEHICLE OR
 2-4     LICENSE.  A notice to appear issued to the operator of a commercial
 2-5     motor vehicle or holder of a commercial driver's license or
 2-6     commercial driver learner's permit, for the violation of a law
 2-7     regulating the operation of vehicles on highways, must contain [be
 2-8     on a form that contains] the information required by department
 2-9     rule, to comply with  Chapter 522 and the federal Commercial Motor
2-10     Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 (Title 49, U.S.C. Section 2701 et seq.).
2-11           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-16     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-17     passage, and it is so enacted.