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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to the authority of a municipality to alter speed limits. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Sections 545.356(b-1), (c), and (d), |
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Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows: |
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(b-1) Except as provided by Subsection (b-3), the governing |
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body of a municipality, for a highway or a part of a highway in the |
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municipality that is not an officially designated or marked highway |
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or road of the state highway system, may declare a lower speed limit |
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of not less than 20 [25] miles per hour, if the governing body |
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determines that the prima facie speed limit on the highway is |
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unreasonable or unsafe. A municipality is not required to perform |
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an engineering or traffic investigation to declare a lower speed |
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limit under this subsection if the street is located in a residence |
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district. |
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(c) A prima facie speed limit that is altered by the |
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governing body of a municipality under Subsection (b)[, (b-1),] or |
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(b-3) is effective when the governing body erects signs giving |
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notice of the new limit and at all times or at other times as |
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determined. |
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(d) The governing body of a municipality that declares a |
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lower speed limit on a highway or part of a highway under Subsection |
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[(b-1) or] (b-3), not later than February 1 of each year, shall |
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publish on its Internet website and submit to the department a |
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report that compares for each of the two previous calendar years: |
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(1) the number of traffic citations issued by peace |
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officers of the municipality and the alleged speed of the vehicles, |
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for speed limit violations on the highway or part of the highway; |
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(2) the number of warning citations issued by peace |
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officers of the municipality on the highway or part of the highway; |
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and |
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(3) the number of vehicular accidents that resulted in |
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injury or death and were attributable to speed limit violations on |
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the highway or part of the highway. |
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SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |