This website will be unavailable from Friday, April 26, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, April 29, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
By: Staples S.B. No. 117
(In the Senate - Filed November 15, 2002; January 29, 2003,
read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
March 13, 2003, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6,
Nays 0; March 13, 2003, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of certain retired peace officers to
carry certain weapons.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter H, Chapter 1701, Occupations Code,
is amended by adding Section 1701.357 to read as follows:
Sec. 1701.357. WEAPONS PROFICIENCY FOR CERTAIN RETIRED
PEACE OFFICERS. (a) This section applies only to a peace officer
designated as a peace officer under Article 2.12(1), (2), (3), or
(10), Code of Criminal Procedure.
(b) A state or local law enforcement agency may allow an
honorably retired peace officer to whom this section applies an
opportunity to demonstrate annually weapons proficiency if the
retired officer provides to the agency a sworn affidavit stating
that:
(1) the officer honorably retired after not less than
20 years of service as a commissioned officer;
(2) the officer's license as a commissioned officer
was not revoked or suspended for any period during the officer's
term of service as a commissioned officer; and
(3) the officer has no psychological or physical
disability that would interfere with the officer's proper handling
of a handgun.
(c) The agency shall issue a certificate of proficiency to a
retired officer who satisfactorily demonstrates weapons
proficiency under Subsection (b). The agency shall maintain
records of any retired officer who holds a certificate issued under
this section.
(d) A certificate issued under this section expires on the
first anniversary of the date the certificate was issued.
(e) A state or local law enforcement agency may set and
collect fees to recover the expenses the agency incurs in
performing duties under this section.
SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 46.15, Penal Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Sections 46.02 and 46.03 do not apply to:
(1) peace officers and neither section prohibits a
peace officer from carrying a weapon in this state, regardless of
whether the officer is engaged in the actual discharge of the
officer's duties while carrying the weapon;
(2) parole officers and neither section prohibits an
officer from carrying a weapon in this state if the officer is:
(A) engaged in the actual discharge of the
officer's duties while carrying the weapon; and
(B) in compliance with policies and procedures
adopted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice regarding the
possession of a weapon by an officer while on duty;
(3) community supervision and corrections department
officers appointed or employed under Section 76.004, Government
Code, and neither section prohibits an officer from carrying a
weapon in this state if the officer is:
(A) engaged in the actual discharge of the
officer's duties while carrying the weapon; and
(B) authorized to carry a weapon under Section
76.0051, Government Code; [or]
(4) a judge or justice of the supreme court, the court
of criminal appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a
criminal district court, a constitutional county court, a statutory
county court, a justice court, or a municipal court who is licensed
to carry a concealed handgun under Subchapter H, Chapter 411,
Government Code; or
(5) an honorably retired peace officer who holds a
certificate of proficiency issued under Section 1701.357,
Occupations Code, and is carrying a photo identification issued by
the agency from which the officer retired verifying that the
officer honorably retired after not less than 20 years of service as
a commissioned officer.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
* * * * *