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.

                                                                                

79R842 PEP-D

By:  Zaffirini                                                    S.B. No. 27 



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to creating a presumption regarding a person's alcohol 
concentration for purposes of certain criminal proceedings against 
the person and the administrative suspension of the person's 
driver's license.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Chapter 38, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended by adding Article 38.24 to read as follows:
	Art. 38.24.  EVIDENCE OF ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION.  For 
purposes of the prosecution of an offense under Chapter 49, Penal 
Code, relating to the operating of a motor vehicle, aircraft, or 
watercraft while intoxicated, or to the operating or assembling of 
an amusement ride while intoxicated, it is presumed that at the time 
of the offense, the person had an alcohol concentration equal to or 
higher than the alcohol concentration shown by an analysis of 
breath or blood taken from the person at or not later than three 
hours after the time of the person's arrest.
	SECTION 2.   Subchapter D, Chapter 524, Transportation Code, 
is amended by adding Section 524.0375 to read as follows:
	Sec. 524.0375.  PRESUMPTION REGARDING ANALYSIS. For 
purposes of this chapter, it is presumed that at the time of 
operating a motor vehicle in a public place, the person operating 
the vehicle had an alcohol concentration equal to or higher than the 
alcohol concentration shown by an analysis of breath or blood taken 
from the person at or not later than three hours after the time of 
the person's arrest.
	SECTION 3.  (a)  Article 38.24, Code of Criminal Procedure, 
as added by this Act, applies only to an offense committed on or 
after the effective date of this Act.  An offense committed before 
the effective date of this Act 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 subsection, an offense was 
committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of 
the offense was committed before that date.
	(b)  Section 524.0375, Transportation Code, as added by this 
Act, applies only to a person arrested for an offense committed on 
or after the effective date of this Act.  A person arrested for an 
offense committed before the effective date of this Act 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 
subsection, an offense was committed before the effective date of 
this Act if any element of the offense was committed before that 
date.
	SECTION 4.  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.