BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 802

By: Rose

Homeland Security & Public Safety

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Over the past year, several tornadoes have caused extensive damage across large areas of certain Texas counties. As part of the process for declaring an emergency, county officials need to gain immediate access to affected areas to perform on-site examinations of the damage. There have been reports by local emergency management offices throughout Texas that a delay in reaching a disaster site is not an uncommon problem for county emergency management vehicles, as these vehicles lack statutory authorization to use emergency flashing lights and, as a result, are often delayed by traffic. H.B. 802 seeks to address this issue by providing a county-owned or county-leased emergency management vehicle better access to disaster sites as an authorized emergency vehicle.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 802 amends the Transportation Code to expand the definition of "authorized emergency vehicle," for purposes of statutory provisions relating to the rules of the road, to include a county-owned or county-leased emergency management vehicle that has been designated or authorized by the county commissioners court.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2013.