By: Menendez (Senate Sponsor - Van de Putte) H.B. No. 42

(In the Senate - Received from the House April 11, 2011; April 20, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security; May 19, 2011, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 19, 2011, sent to printer.)

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the duty imposed on the operator of a motor vehicle that strikes a structure adjacent to a highway.

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

SECTION 1. The heading to Section 550.025, Transportation Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 550.025. DUTY ON STRIKING STRUCTURE, FIXTURE, OR HIGHWAY LANDSCAPING.

SECTION 2. Section 550.025(a), Transportation Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) The operator of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting only in damage to a structure adjacent to a highway or a fixture or landscaping legally on or adjacent to a highway shall:

(1) take reasonable steps to locate and notify the owner or person in charge of the property of the accident and of the operator's name and address and the registration number of the vehicle the operator was driving;

(2) if requested and available, show the operator's driver's license to the owner or person in charge of the property; and

(3) report the accident if required by Section 550.061.

SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only in connection with a motor vehicle accident that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. A motor vehicle accident that occurred before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the accident occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.

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