By Van de Putte                                       H.B. No. 1968
         76R6040 MXM-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the powers and duties of peace officers commissioned by
 1-3     certain hospital districts.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 281.057, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 281.057.  EMPLOYMENT OF DISTRICT PEACE OFFICERS.  (a)
 1-8     The board of the Dallas County Hospital District, the Tarrant
 1-9     County Hospital District, or the Bexar County Hospital District may
1-10     employ and commission peace officers for the district.  The primary
1-11     jurisdiction of a peace officer commissioned under this section
1-12     includes each county in which property is owned, leased, rented, or
1-13     otherwise under the control of the district that employs the peace
1-14     officer.
1-15           (b)  Within the peace officer's primary jurisdiction, a peace
1-16     officer commissioned under this section:
1-17                 (1)  is vested with all the powers, privileges, and
1-18     immunities of peace officers;
1-19                 (2)  may, in accordance with Chapter 14, Code of
1-20     Criminal Procedure, arrest without a warrant any person who
1-21     violates a law of the state; and
1-22                 (3)  may enforce all traffic laws on streets and
1-23     highways.
1-24           (c)  Outside a peace officer's primary jurisdiction a peace
 2-1     officer commissioned under this section is vested with all the
 2-2     powers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers and may arrest
 2-3     any person who violates any law of the state if the peace officer:
 2-4                 (1)  is summoned by another law enforcement agency to
 2-5     provide assistance;
 2-6                 (2)  is assisting another law enforcement agency; or
 2-7                 (3)  is otherwise performing duties as a peace officer
 2-8     for the district that employs the peace officer.
 2-9           (d)  A person commissioned under this section must be a
2-10     certified police officer under the requirements of the Commission
2-11     on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education.  [A district
2-12     peace officer may make an arrest if:]
2-13                 [(1)  the arrest is necessary to prevent or abate the
2-14     commission of a criminal offense and the offense or threatened
2-15     offense occurs on any land, easement, right-of-way, or other
2-16     property owned and controlled by the district; or]
2-17                 [(2)  the offense involves injury or harm to any
2-18     property owned or controlled by the district.]
2-19           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-20           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.