78R1190 JD-D

By:  Moreno of El Paso                                            H.B. No. 282



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the authority of a county or municipality to alter  
speed limits on roadways in the county or municipality and to place 
and maintain traffic-control devices on those roadways.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 544.002, Transportation Code, is amended 
by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
	(d)  Notwithstanding Subsections (b) and (c), a county or 
municipality may place and maintain a traffic-control device on a 
roadway in the county or municipality, including a highway under 
the jurisdiction of the Texas Department of Transportation, without 
regard to the manual of specifications adopted under Section 
544.001 and without that department's permission, if the 
commissioners court of the county or the governing body of the 
municipality:
		(1)  finds that a user of the roadway or a pedestrian 
walking on or along the roadway was killed or fatally injured at or 
near the proposed location of the traffic-control device; and
		(2)  determines that placement and maintenance of the 
traffic-control device would prevent or reduce the probability of 
additional fatalities at and near the proposed location of the 
traffic-control device.
	SECTION 2.  Section 545.355, Transportation Code, is amended 
by adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows:
	(d)  The commissioners court of a county, for a segment of a 
highway or road of the state highway system that is inside the 
county and outside a municipality, by order and without an 
engineering and traffic investigation, may declare a lower speed 
limit than the prima facie speed limit on the highway or road, if 
the commissioners court:
		(1)  finds that a user of the segment of the highway or 
road for which the lower speed limit is proposed, or a pedestrian 
walking on or along that segment of the highway or road, was killed 
or fatally injured; and
		(2)  determines that the lower speed limit would 
prevent or reduce the probability of additional fatalities on that 
segment of the highway or road.
	(e)  Unless continued by subsequent order of the 
commissioners court, a speed limit established under Subsection (d) 
expires on the 180th day after the date the order establishing the 
speed limit was entered on its records.
	SECTION 3.  Section 545.356, Transportation Code, is amended 
by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (d) and (e) to 
read as follows:
	(c)  A prima facie speed limit that is altered by the 
governing body of a municipality under Subsection (b) or (d) is 
effective when the governing body erects signs giving notice of the 
new limit and at all times or at other times as determined.
	(d)  Notwithstanding Subsections (a) and (b), the governing  
body of a municipality, for a segment of a highway in the 
municipality, including a highway of the state highway system, may 
by ordinance and without an engineering and traffic investigation 
establish a lower speed limit than the prima facie speed limit, if 
the governing body:
		(1)  finds that a user of the segment of the highway for 
which the lower speed limit is proposed, or a pedestrian walking on 
or along that segment of the highway, was killed or fatally injured; 
and
		(2)  determines that the lower speed limit would 
prevent or reduce the probability of additional fatalities on that 
segment of the highway.
	(e)  Unless continued by subsequent action of the governing 
body of the municipality, a speed limit established under 
Subsection (d) expires on the 180th day after the date that speed 
limit was established.
	SECTION 4.  Section 545.359, Transportation Code, is amended 
to read as follows:
	Sec. 545.359.  CONFLICTING DESIGNATED SPEED LIMITS.  An 
order of the Texas Transportation Commission declaring a speed 
limit on a part of a designated or marked route of the state highway 
system made under Section 545.353 or 545.362 supersedes any 
conflicting designated speed established under Sections 545.356(a) 
or (b) [545.356] and 545.358.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.