HBA-MSH H.B. 1744 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1744
By: Goolsby
Public Safety
2/28/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law prohibits political subdivisions and agencies of this state
from maintaining a system of traffic ticket quotas, whereby an officer is
required to issue a certain number of citations.  The current prohibition
was enacted to prevent governmental bodies from requiring law enforcement
officers to produce revenue streams and designed to allow officers to focus
on promoting safe driving.  Under current law, it is possible for a
governmental body to circumvent the prohibition on quotas, by evaluating
the officer based on the number of arrests made involving the enforcement
of traffic laws.  House Bill 1744 extends the prohibition on quotas to
include traffic arrests. 

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. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1744 amends the Transportation Code to prohibit a political
subdivision or agency of this state from establishing or maintaining in any
manner a plan to evaluate, promote, compensate, or discipline a peace
officer according to the officer's making a predetermined, specified, or
average number or percentage of any type or combination of types of arrests
while performing duty assignments involving the enforcement of traffic
laws. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.