HBA-DMD, PDH C.S.H.B. 1152 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1152 By: Driver Public Safety 3/12/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Photographic monitoring of intersections has been used successfully in other states to reduce the incidence of traffic offenses at intersections. The implementation of photographic traffic-control signal monitoring systems would allow communities to monitor intersections that the community typically would not be able to monitor due to lack of police officers and resources. C.S.H.B. 1152 sets forth that this chapter applies only to a municipality in a county that has a population of more than 150,000 or is contiguous to a county in this state that has a population of more than 150,000. This bill authorizes a municipality to implement a photographic traffic-control signal monitoring system, provides specifics for the installation, operation, and monitoring of the system, provisions for untimely appeals to violations, and sets forth the penalties, enforcement, and defense of an offense under this Act. This bill prohibits a municipality from disposing or records or recorded images relating to a citation within a specified time period. 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-CONTROL SIGNAL MONITORING SYSTEM Sec. 707.001. APPLICABILITY. Sets forth that this chapter applies only to a municipality in a county that has a population of more than 150,000 or is contiguous to a county in this state that has a population of more than 150,000. Sec. 707.002. DEFINITIONS. Defines "owner of a motor vehicle," "photographic traffic monitoring system," "recorded image," and "traffic-control signal." Sec. 707.003. AUTHORITY TO IMPLEMENT PHOTOGRAPHIC TRAFFIC-CONTROL SIGNAL MONITORING SYSTEM. Authorizes the governing body of a municipality by ordinance to implement a photographic traffic-control signal monitoring system (monitoring system) and to provide that the owner of a motor vehicle (vehicle), or lessee of a vehicle that was rented or leased from a renting or leasing business, is liable for a civil penalty if, while facing only a steady red signal displayed by an electrically operated traffic-control signal located in the municipality, the vehicle is operated in violation of the instructions of that traffic-control signal, as specified in Section 544.007(d) (Traffic Control Signals in General), Transportation Code. Sec. 707.004. INSTALLATION AND OPERATION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC TRAFFICCONTROL SIGNAL MONITORING SYSTEM. Authorizes a municipality implementing a monitoring system to install and operate the system or contract for the installation or operation of the system. Sec. 707.005. RECORDED IMAGE REQUIRED TO DEPICT LICENSE PLATE. Prohibits a municipality from installing or operating a monitoring system unless the system is capable of clearly depicting on a recorded image the license plate number attached to the rear of the vehicle; and from issuing a citation or summons unless a recorded image clearly depicts the vehicle's license plate number. Sec. 707.006. AMOUNT OF CIVIL PENALTY. (a) Provides that an ordinance adopted under this chapter must prescribe the amount of the civil penalty. Prohibits the civil penalty from exceeding $75, except as provided by Subsection (b). (b) Prohibits the amount of the penalty from being greater than $200, for a third or subsequent offense in any 12-month period. Sec. 707.007. DESIGNATION OF ENFORCING AND ADMINISTERING DEPARTMENT, AGENCY, OR OFFICE. Requires an ordinance to specify the department, agency, or office of the municipality responsible for enforcement and administration of this chapter. Provides that the ordinance may designate the police department of the municipality as the department responsible for the enforcement or administration of this chapter. Sec. 707.008. EFFECT ON OTHER ENFORCEMENT. Specifies existing Transportation Code provisions to which a monitoring system implemented by a municipality does not apply. Prohibits a municipality from imposing or seeking to impose a civil penalty under this chapter if the operator of a vehicle was arrested or issued a citation and a notice to appear by a peace officer for the same violation recorded by a monitoring system. Sec. 707.009. APPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAWS. Provides that Sections 682.003 (Adoption of Ordinance Establishing Hearing Procedure), 682.004 (Content of Ordinance), 682.005 (Enforcement of Order Concerning Witnesses and Documents), 682.006 (Citation or Summons), 682.007 (Appearance at Hearing), 682.008 (Presumptions), 682.009 (Order), 682.010 (Enforcement), and 682.011 (Appeal), Transportation Code, apply to an ordinance adopted under this chapter as if a violation described by Section 707.003, Transportation Code, were a violation of a municipal ordinance relating to the parking or stopping of a vehicle under Chapter 682 (Administrative Adjudication of Vehicle Parking and Stopping Offenses in Certain Municipalities), Transportation Code. Excludes Section 682.010(4) (denying issuance of a parking permit) from this provision. Sec. 707.010. Requires the governing body of a municipality to approve the siting of the monitoring system devices in the municipality. Provides that the siting must take into consideration the frequency of vehicle accidents on streets and at intersections where official traffic-control signals are installed, and the increased risk to children caused by vehicular traffic along streets and at intersections located within 1,000 feet of a school. Sec. 707.011. CITATION OR SUMMONS; CONTENTS. Provides that the imposition of a civil penalty begins by mailing a citation or a summons to the owner of a motor vehicle against which the municipality seeks to impose the civil penalty. Provides the requirements for notifying the owner about the citation and specifies the contents of the citation or summons. Provides that a citation or summons is presumed to have been received on the fifth day after the date the citation or summons is mailed. Sec. 707.012. ISSUANCE OF WARNING NOTICE IN LIEU OF CITATION OR SUMMONS. Authorizes the municipality to mail a warning notice to the owner of a vehicle. Specifies the contents of the warning notice. Sec. 707.013. UNTIMELY APPEAL. Entitles a person, notwithstanding anything in Section 707.011, who fails to pay the amount of a civil penalty or to contest liability in a timely manner to an administrative adjudication hearing (hearing) on the violation if: (1) the person files an affidavit with the hearing officer stating the date on which the person received the citation or notice of the violation that was mailed to the person; and (2) within the same period required by Section 707.011 for a hearing to be timely requested but measured from the date the mailed citation or notice was received as stated in the affidavit filed under Subdivision (1), the person requests a hearing. Sec. 707.014. BURDEN OF PROOF AT ADMINISTRATIVE ADJUDICATION HEARING. Prohibits the hearing officer at a hearing from imposing a civil penalty unless the issues are proven by a preponderance of the evidence or the owner or person alleged to have committed the violation admits liability for the civil penalty. Sec. 707.015. SYSTEM RELIABILITY AND IMAGE VALIDITY. Provides that the reliability of the monitoring system may be attested to in a proceeding by an affidavit of an officer or employee of the municipality or the entity to which the municipality contracts to install or operate the system who is responsible for inspecting and maintaining the system. Provides that an affidavit of an officer or employee of the municipality that alleges a violation of Section 544.007(d), Transportation Code, based on inspection of the pertinent recorded image, is admissible and is evidence of the facts contained in the affidavit. Sec. 707.016. DEFENSES TO VIOLATION OR IMPOSITION OF CIVIL PENALTY. Provides the defenses that a hearing officer is required to consider at a hearing. Authorizes the hearing officer to admit and consider evidence on any other matter or issue that the officer considers pertinent. Provides that an owner must submit proof acceptable to the hearing officer to demonstrate that at the time of the violation the motor vehicle or the license plate on the vehicle was stolen and the owner had timely reported the theft to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Sec. 707.017. SUBSEQUENT ACTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH STOLEN VEHICLE OR LICENSE PLATE OR VEHICLE NOT DRIVEN BY OWNER. Requires a hearing officer to provide to the designated department, agency, or office a copy of any evidence received at the hearing that identifies the operator of the vehicle at the time and place of the violation, if at a hearing the hearing officer determines that the vehicle or the license plates were stolen or that the vehicle was being operated by a person other than the owner. Sets forth the conditions under which the person shown by the evidence to have been the operator of the vehicle at the time and place of the violation may be cited, summoned, or contest the violation or the imposition of the penalty. Sec. 707.018. IMPOSITION OF CIVIL PENALTY NOT A CONVICTION. Provides that the imposition of a civil penalty under this chapter is not a conviction and may not be considered a conviction for any purpose. Sec. 707.019. RETENTION OF RECORDS AND RECORDED IMAGES. Prohibits the municipality from disposing of any record or recorded image relating to a proceeding initiated under this chapter or to the issuance of a warning citation under Section 707.012 before the first anniversary of the date of the violation that is the subject of the proceeding or the warning citation. SECTION 2. Amends Section 542.202(a), Transportation Code, to provide that this subtitle does not prevent a local authority, with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction and in the reasonable exercise of the police power, from implementing a photographic traffic monitoring system under Chapter 707. SECTION 3.Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 1152 redesignates Sections 707.001-707.008 to Sections 707.002-707.009, Sections 707.009-707.010 to Sections 707.011-707.012, and Sections 707.011-707.015 to Sections 707.014707.018. C.S.H.B. 1152 differs from the original by adding the new Section 707.001, which states that this chapter applies to a municipality in a county that has a population of more than 150,000 or is contiguous to a county in this state that has a population of more than 150,000. C.S.H.B. 1152 replaces the definition of "photographic traffic-control signal monitoring system" with the definition of "photographic traffic monitoring system" and adds to the definition of "recorded image" in Section 707.002. In Section 707.003, the substitute provides that the lessee of a motor vehicle rented or leased from a renting or leasing business is liable for a civil penalty if, while facing only a steady red signal displayed by an electrically operated traffic-control signal located in the municipality, the vehicle is operated in violation of the instructions of that trafficcontrol signal, as specified in Section 544.007(d) (Traffic Control Signals in General), Transportation Code. Section 707.009 makes a change conforming to the new Section 707.003. C.S.H.B. 1152 differs from the original in Section 707.006, by providing an exception to the prohibition of the amount of the civil penalty being greater than $75. C.S.H.B. 1152 adds the new Section 707.010, which requires the governing body of a municipality to approve the siting of the monitoring system devices in the municipality. Section 707.010 provides that the siting must take into consideration the frequency of vehicle accidents on streets and at intersections where official traffic-control signals are installed, and the increased risk to children caused by vehicular traffic along streets and at intersections located within 1,000 feet of a school. C.S.H.B. 1152 adds to the requirements for notifying the owner about the citation and specifies the contents of the citation or summons in Section 707.011. C.S.H.B. 1152 adds the new Section 707.013, which provides guidelines under which a person who fails to pay the amount of a civil penalty or contests liability in a timely manner may obtain an administrative adjudication hearing (hearing). C.S.H.B. 1152 adds to the defenses that a hearing officer is required to consider at a hearing in Section 707.016. The substitute adds "or vehicle not driven by owner" to the title for Section 707.017. Section 707.017 in the substitute requires a hearing officer to provide to the designated department, agency, or office a copy of any evidence received at the hearing that identifies the operator of the vehicle at the time and place of the violation if at a hearing the hearing officer determines that the vehicle was being operated by a person other than the owner. C.S.H.B. 1152 add Section 707.019, which prohibits the municipality from disposing of any record or recorded image relating to a proceeding initiated under this chapter or to the issuance of a warning citation under Section 707.012 before the first anniversary of the date of the violation that is the subject of the proceeding or the warning citation. C.S.H.B. 1152, in SECTION 2, provides that this subtitle does not prevent a local authority, with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction and in the reasonable exercise of the police power, from implementing a photographic traffic monitoring system under Chapter 707. C.S.H.B. 1152 redesignates the emergency clause and the effective date from SECTION 2 in the original to SECTION 3.