HBA-DMD, RAR H.B. 365 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 365 By: Madden Public Safety 2/24/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In 1997, there were 1,120 deaths or severe injuries in Texas as a result of persons driving their motor vehicles through red lights. In this same study, 16,444 individuals sustained injuries or property damage necessitating the towing of their vehicles. H.B. 365 would authorize municipalities to implement a photographic traffic monitoring system for the purpose of monitoring traffic signal violations. The bill establishes a civil penalty for traffic signal violators, which is prohibited from exceeding $100. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subtitle I, Title 7, Transportation Code, by adding Chapter 707, as follows: CHAPTER 707. PHOTOGRAPHIC TRAFFIC MONITORING SYSTEMS Sec. 707.001. DEFINITIONS. Defines "photographic traffic monitoring system," "recorded image," and "traffic-control signal." Sec. 707.002. PHOTOGRAPHIC TRAFFIC MONITORING SYSTEM. Authorizes a municipality to implement by ordinance a photographic traffic monitoring system and makes liable the owner or lessee of a motor vehicle for a civil penalty when operating the vehicle in violation of the instructions of the traffic-control signal, as specified by Section 544.007(d), Transportation Code (Traffic-Control Signals in General). Authorizes the municipality to adopt rules and procedures necessary for the photographic monitoring system. Requires the ordinance to specify the amount of the civil penalty and prohibits a penalty in excess of $100. Sec. 707.003. HEARING PROCESS. Provides that the ordinance adopted under Section 707.002 must establish a hearing process for the resolution of civil penalties by the municipality and that the hearing process must provide procedural and substantive due process to alleged offenders. Authorizes the inclusion of the administrative adjudication provisions described by Sections 682.004-682.011, Transportation Code (Administrative Adjudication of Vehicle Parking and Stopping Offenses in Certain Municipalities), in the hearing process. Sec. 707.004. ADMISSIBILITY OF RECORDED IMAGE MADE BY PHOTOGRAPHIC TRAFFIC MONITORING SYSTEM. Provides that a recorded image made by a photographic monitoring system is admissible in an administrative adjudication hearing and is evidence sufficient to support a finding that the vehicle identified by the image was operated in violation of the instructions of an electrically operated traffic-control signal. Sec. 707.005. NONLIABILITY OF MOTOR VEHICLE OWNER. Provides that the owner of a motor vehicle is not liable for a civil penalty under an ordinance adopted under Section 707.002 if: (1) at the time the vehicle was operated in violation of the instructions of a traffic-control signal: (A) the owner was a person in the business of renting or leasing motor vehicles, the vehicle was being operated by the lessee under a written rental or lease agreement, and the owner provides the municipality with the name, address, and driver's license number of the lessee; (B) the signal was not in proper position and sufficiently legible to an ordinarily observant person, or; (C) the vehicle was a stolen vehicle being operated without the effective consent of the owner and the owner provides the municipality with a copy of a police report showing that the vehicle was stolen, or; (2) the owner or another person was convicted for the violation under Subtitle C, Transportation Code (Rules of the Road). Sec. 707.006. CIVIL PENALTY NOT A CONVICTION. Provides that the imposition of a civil penalty under this chapter on the owner of a motor vehicle operated in violation of the instructions of a traffic-control signal is not a conviction under Subtitle C, Transportation Code (Rules of the Road). Sec. 707.007. IMPLEMENTATION OF SYSTEM. Authorizes a municipality that implements a photographic traffic monitoring system under this chapter to install and operate the system or to contract for the installation or operation of the system. Sec. 707.008. EFFECT OF CHAPTER ON OTHER LAWS. Provides that this chapter or an ordinance adopted by a municipality under this chapter does not affect the enforcement in that municipality of Section 544.007(d), Transportation Code (Traffic-Control Signals in General). SECTION 2. Amends Section 542.202(a), Transportation Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.