By Talton                                             H.B. No. 3374
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the appointment of peace officers by a water district.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Title 4, Chapter 49, Section 49.216, Water Code,
 1-5     is amended to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 49.216.  ENFORCEMENT BY PEACE OFFICERS.  (a)  A district
 1-7     may contract for or employ its own peace officers with power to
 1-8     make arrests when necessary to prevent or abate the commission of:
 1-9                 (1)  any offense against the rules of the district when
1-10     the offense or threatened offense occurs on any land, water, or
1-11     easement owned or controlled by the district;
1-12                 (2)  any offense involving injury or detriment to any
1-13     property owned or controlled by the district; and
1-14                 (3)  any offense against the laws of the state.
1-15           (b)  A district may appoint reserve peace officers who may be
1-16     called to serve as peace officers by the district during the actual
1-17     discharge of their official duties.
1-18           (c)  A reserve peace officer serves at the discretion of the
1-19     district and may be called into service if the district considers
1-20     it necessary to have additional officers to preserve the peace in
1-21     or enforce the law of the district.
 2-1           (d)  A reserve peace officer on active duty and actively
 2-2     engaged in assigned duties has the same rights, privileges, and
 2-3     duties as any other peace officer of the district.
 2-4           (e)  Any peace officer, before beginning to perform any
 2-5     duties and at the time of appointment, must take an oath and
 2-6     execute a bond conditioned on faithful performance of such
 2-7     officer's duties in the amount of $1,000 payable to the district.
 2-8     The oath and the bond shall be filed in the district office.
 2-9           (f)  A peace officer for a district must be a full-time paid
2-10     employee of the district who works on the average of at least 32
2-11     hours a week for the district, is compensated by the district at
2-12     the rate of the minimum wage or higher, and is entitled to all
2-13     employee benefits offered to other employees of the district.
2-14           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-19     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-20     passage, and it is so enacted.
2-21           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.