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2005S0575-2 03/11/05
By: Staples S.B. No. 9
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to homeland security; providing a penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 71.0081, Agriculture Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c-1) to read as follows:
(c-1) The department may execute agreements with
corporations or other private concerns to provide goods or services
to establish checkpoints or conduct inspections under this section.
SECTION 2. Section 418.004, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subdivision (9) to read as follows:
(9) "Regional planning commission" means a regional
planning commission, council of governments, or other regional
planning agency created under Chapter 391, Local Government Code.
SECTION 3. Subsection (c), Section 418.107, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(c) A political subdivision or regional planning commission
may render aid to other political subdivisions or regional planning
commissions under mutual aid agreements.
SECTION 4. Subsection (d), Section 418.109, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(d) A municipality, county, emergency services district,
fire protection agency, regional planning commission, organized
volunteer group, or other emergency services entity may provide
mutual aid assistance on request from another municipality, county,
emergency services district, fire protection agency, regional
planning commission, organized volunteer group, or other emergency
services entity. The chief or highest ranking officer of the entity
from which assistance is requested, with the approval and consent
of the presiding officer of the governing body of that entity, may
provide that assistance while acting in accordance with the
policies, ordinances, and procedures established by the governing
body of that entity and consistent with any mutual aid plans
developed by the emergency management council.
SECTION 5. The heading to Subchapter B, Chapter 421,
Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER B. HOMELAND SECURITY [CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
PROTECTION] COUNCIL
SECTION 6. Subsection (a), Section 421.021, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) The Homeland Security [Critical Infrastructure
Protection] Council is composed of the governor or the governor's
designee and one representative of each of the following entities,
appointed by the single statewide elected or appointed governing
officer or administrative head of the entity:
(1) Department of Agriculture;
(2) office of the attorney general;
(3) General Land Office;
(4) Public Utility Commission of Texas;
(5) [Texas] Department of State Health Services;
(6) Department of Information Resources;
(7) Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas;
(8) division of emergency management of the office of
the governor;
(9) Texas National Guard;
(10) Texas Commission on Environmental Quality;
(11) Railroad Commission of Texas;
(12) Texas Strategic Military Planning Commission;
[and]
(13) Texas Department of Transportation;
(14) Commission on State Emergency Communications;
(15) Office of State-Federal Relations;
(16) Secretary of State;
(17) Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland
Security;
(18) House Committee on Defense Affairs and
State-Federal Relations;
(19) Texas Animal Health Commission;
(20) Texas Association of Regional Councils;
(21) Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer
Standards and Education;
(22) Texas Department of Insurance (arson
investigators);
(23) Texas Education Agency;
(24) Texas Commission on Fire Protection;
(25) Parks and Wildlife Department;
(26) Texas State Guard; and
(27) Texas Water Development Board.
SECTION 7. Section 421.071, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 421.071. COOPERATION AND ASSISTANCE. A state or local
agency that performs a homeland security activity or a
nongovernmental entity that contracts with a state or local agency
to perform a homeland security activity shall cooperate with and
assist the office of the governor, the Homeland Security [Critical
Infrastructure Protection] Council, the Texas Infrastructure
Protection Communications Center, and the National Infrastructure
Protection Center in the performance of their duties under this
chapter and other state or federal law.
SECTION 8. Chapter 421, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subchapter F to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER F. GOVERNOR'S INTEROPERABLE RADIO COMMUNICATIONS
PROGRAM
Sec. 421.095. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "First responder" means a public safety employee
or volunteer whose duties include responding rapidly to an
emergency. The term includes:
(A) a peace officer whose duties include
responding rapidly to an emergency;
(B) fire protection personnel under Section
419.021;
(C) a volunteer firefighter who is:
(i) certified by the Texas Commission on
Fire Protection; or
(ii) a member of an organized volunteer
fire-fighting unit as described by Section 615.003; and
(D) an individual certified as emergency medical
services personnel by the Department of State Health Services.
(2) "Infrastructure equipment" means the underlying
permanent equipment required to establish interoperable
communication between radio systems used by local, state, and
federal agencies and first responders.
Sec. 421.096. INTEROPERABILITY OF RADIO SYSTEMS. The
office of the governor shall:
(1) develop and administer a strategic plan to design
and implement a statewide integrated public safety radio
communications system that promotes interoperability within and
between local, state, and federal agencies and first responders;
(2) develop and administer a plan in accordance with
Subdivision (1) to purchase infrastructure equipment for state and
local agencies and first responders;
(3) advise representatives of entities involved in
homeland security activities, as defined by Section 21.001, in this
state; and
(4) use appropriated money, including money from
relevant federal homeland security grants, for the purposes of
designing, implementing, and maintaining a statewide integrated
public safety radio communications system.
Sec. 421.097. ASSISTANCE. The office of the governor may
consult with a representative of an entity described in Section
421.096(3) to obtain assistance or information necessary for the
performance of any duty under this subchapter.
Sec. 421.098. REPORT. Not later than September 1 of each
year, the office of the governor shall provide to the legislature a
report on the status of its duties under this subchapter.
SECTION 9. Subchapter B, Chapter 12, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 12.0128 to read as follows:
Sec. 12.0128. HEALTH ALERT NETWORK. The executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall
adopt rules requiring the department to include the Texas
Association of Local Health Officials, the Texas Association of
Community Health Centers, and the Texas Organization of Rural and
Community Hospitals in the department's Texas Health Alert Network
to the extent federal funds for bioterrorism preparedness are
available for that purpose.
SECTION 10. Section 341.033, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:
(i) An owner, agent, manager, operator, or other person in
charge of a public water supply system that furnishes water for
public or private use shall maintain internal procedures to notify
the commission immediately of the following events, if the event
may negatively impact the production or delivery of safe and
adequate drinking water:
(1) an unusual or unexplained unauthorized entry at
property of the public water supply system;
(2) an act of terrorism against the public water
supply system;
(3) an unauthorized attempt to probe for or gain
access to proprietary information that supports the key activities
of the public water supply system;
(4) a theft of property that supports the key
activities of the public water supply system; or
(5) a natural disaster, accident, or act that results
in damage to the public water supply system.
SECTION 11. Subsection (b), Section 30.05, Penal Code, is
amended by adding Subdivision (7) to read as follows:
(7) "Critical infrastructure facility" means one of
the following, if completely enclosed by a fence or other physical
barrier that is obviously designed to exclude intruders:
(A) a chemical manufacturing facility;
(B) a refinery;
(C) an electrical power generating facility,
substation, or switching station;
(D) a water intake structure or water treatment
facility;
(E) a natural gas transmission compressor
station;
(F) a liquid natural gas terminal or storage
facility;
(G) a telecommunications central switching
office; or
(H) a port, railroad switching yard, trucking
terminal, or other freight transportation facility.
SECTION 12. Section 30.05, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (d) and by adding Subsection (g) to read as
follows:
(d) An offense under Subsection (e) is a Class C misdemeanor
unless it is committed in a habitation or unless the actor carries a
deadly weapon on or about the actor's person during the commission
of the offense, in which event it is a Class A misdemeanor. An
offense under Subsection (a) is a Class B misdemeanor, except that
the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if:
(1) the offense is committed:
(A) in a habitation or a shelter center; [or]
(B) on a Superfund site; or
(C) on or in a critical infrastructure facility;
or
(2) the actor carries a deadly weapon on or about his
person during the commission of the offense.
(g) At the punishment stage of a trial in which the attorney
representing the state seeks the increase in punishment provided by
Subsection (d)(1)(C), the defendant may raise the issue as to
whether the defendant entered or remained on or in a critical
infrastructure facility as part of a lawful assembly or peaceful
and orderly petition for the redress of grievances, including an
assembly or petition addressing a labor dispute between an employer
and employee. If the defendant proves the issue in the affirmative
by a preponderance of the evidence, the increase in punishment
provided by Subsection (d)(1)(C) does not apply.
SECTION 13. Section 411.0105, Government Code, is repealed.
SECTION 14. On the effective date of this Act:
(1) the Public Safety Radio Communications Council is
abolished;
(2) the office of the governor replaces the Public
Safety Radio Communications Council as the entity responsible for
oversight of the development of a program related to the
interoperability of radio communications;
(3) all property, including records, in the custody of
the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas that relates
to the Public Safety Radio Communications Council or a program to
promote the interoperability of radio communications becomes the
property of the office of the governor and shall be made available
to the office of the governor no later than December 1, 2005; and
(4) all funds appropriated by the legislature to the
Department of Public Safety for the purpose of providing
administrative support to the Public Safety Radio Communications
Council are transferred to the office of the governor.
SECTION 15. The change in law made by this Act to Section
30.05, Penal Code, applies only to an offense committed on or after
September 1, 2005. An offense committed before September 1, 2005,
is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before September
1, 2005, if any element of the offense was committed before that
date.
SECTION 16. 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, 2005.