1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the application and enforcement of traffic regulations
1-3 in certain private subdivisions.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 542, Transportation Code,
1-6 is amended by adding Section 542.007 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 542.007. TRAFFIC REGULATIONS: PRIVATE SUBDIVISION IN
1-8 CERTAIN COUNTIES. (a) This section applies only to a subdivision
1-9 that is located in the unincorporated area of a county with a
1-10 population of 10,000 or less.
1-11 (b) On petition of 25 percent of the property owners
1-12 residing in a subdivision in which the roads are privately
1-13 maintained or on the request of the governing body of the entity
1-14 that maintains those roads, the commissioners court of the county
1-15 by order may extend any traffic rules that apply to a county road
1-16 to the roads of the subdivision if the commissioners court finds
1-17 the order in the interest of the county generally. The petition
1-18 must specify the traffic rules that are sought to be extended. The
1-19 court order may extend any or all of the requested traffic rules.
1-20 (c) As a condition of extending a traffic rule under
1-21 Subsection (b), the commissioners court may require that owners of
1-22 the property in the subdivision pay all or part of the cost of
1-23 extending and enforcing the traffic rules in the subdivision. The
1-24 commissioners court shall consult with the sheriff to determine the
2-1 cost of enforcing traffic rules in the subdivision.
2-2 (d) On issuance of an order under this section, the private
2-3 roads in the subdivision are considered to be county roads for
2-4 purposes of the application and enforcement of the specified
2-5 traffic rules. The commissioners court may place official traffic
2-6 control devices on property abutting the private roads if:
2-7 (1) those devices relate to the specified traffic
2-8 rule; and
2-9 (2) the consent of the owner of that property is
2-10 obtained.
2-11 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-12 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1703 was passed by the House on April
22, 1999, by a non-record vote; that the House refused to concur in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 1703 on May 26, 1999, and requested
the appointment of a conference committee to consider the
differences between the two houses; and that the House adopted the
conference committee report on H.B. No. 1703 on May 30, 1999, by a
non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1703 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 24, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays
0; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
1703 on May 30, 1999, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor