By Gallego                                            H.B. No. 1703
         76R4020 DRH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 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 a majority of the property owners
1-12     residing in a subdivision in which the roads are privately
1-13     maintained, the commissioners court of the county by order may
1-14     extend any traffic rules that apply to a county road to the roads
1-15     of the subdivision if the commissioners court finds the order in
1-16     the interest of the county generally.  The petition must specify
1-17     the traffic rules that are sought to be extended.  The court order
1-18     may extend any or all of the requested traffic rules.
1-19           (c)  As a condition of extending a traffic rule under
1-20     Subsection (b), the commissioners court may require that owners of
1-21     the property in the subdivision pay all or part of the cost of
1-22     extending and enforcing the traffic rules in the subdivision.  The
1-23     commissioners court shall consult with the sheriff to determine the
1-24     cost of enforcing traffic rules in the subdivision.
 2-1           (d)  On issuance of an order under this section, the private
 2-2     roads in the subdivision are considered to be county roads for
 2-3     purposes of the application and enforcement of the specified
 2-4     traffic rules.  The commissioners court may place official traffic
 2-5     control devices on property abutting the private roads if:
 2-6                 (1)  those devices relate to the specified traffic
 2-7     rule; and
 2-8                 (2)  the consent of the owner of that property is
 2-9     obtained.
2-10           SECTION 2.   This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-11           SECTION 3.  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.