By: Carona S.B. No. 1165

(In the Senate - Filed February 26, 2009; March 13, 2009, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; March 18, 2009, rereferred to Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security; April 8, 2009, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 8, 2009, sent to printer.)

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1165 By: Carona

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the use of certain vehicles for law enforcement purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subdivisions (1) and (13-a), Section 541.201, Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:

(1) "Authorized emergency vehicle" means:

(A) a fire department or police vehicle;

(B) a public or private ambulance operated by a person who has been issued a license by the Texas Department of Health;

(C) a municipal department or public service corporation emergency vehicle that has been designated or authorized by the governing body of a municipality;

(D) a private vehicle of a volunteer firefighter or a certified emergency medical services employee or volunteer when responding to a fire alarm or medical emergency;

(E) an industrial emergency response vehicle, including an industrial ambulance, when responding to an emergency, but only if the vehicle is operated in compliance with criteria in effect September 1, 1989, and established by the predecessor of the Texas Industrial Emergency Services Board of the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas; [or]

(F) a vehicle of a blood bank or tissue bank, accredited or approved under the laws of this state or the United States, when making emergency deliveries of blood, drugs, medicines, or organs; or

(G) a vehicle used for law enforcement purposes that is owned or leased by a federal governmental entity.

(13-a) "Police vehicle" means a vehicle [of a governmental entity primarily] used by a peace officer, as defined by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, for law enforcement purposes that:

(A) is owned or leased by a governmental entity;

(B) is owned or leased by the police department of a private institution of higher education that commissions peace officers under Section 51.212, Education Code; or

(C) is:

(i) a private vehicle owned or leased by the peace officer; and

(ii) approved for use for law enforcement purposes by the head of the law enforcement agency that employs the peace officer, or by that person's designee.

SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 545.421, Transportation Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) A signal under this section that is given by a police officer pursuing a vehicle may be by hand, voice, emergency light, or siren. The officer giving the signal must be in uniform and prominently display the officer's badge of office. The officer's vehicle must bear the insignia of a law enforcement agency, regardless of whether the vehicle displays an emergency light [be appropriately marked as an official police vehicle].

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.

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