| 1 | 1 | | 89R13560 JAM-F |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: AnchÃa H.B. No. 5253 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 8 | 8 | | AN ACT |
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| 9 | 9 | | relating to the authority of a municipality to alter speed limits. |
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| 10 | 10 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 11 | 11 | | SECTION 1. Sections 545.356(b-1), (c), and (d), |
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| 12 | 12 | | Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows: |
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| 13 | 13 | | (b-1) Except as provided by Subsection (b-3), the governing |
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| 14 | 14 | | body of a municipality, for a highway or a part of a highway in the |
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| 15 | 15 | | municipality that is not an officially designated or marked highway |
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| 16 | 16 | | or road of the state highway system, may declare a lower speed limit |
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| 17 | 17 | | of not less than 20 [25] miles per hour, if the governing body |
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| 18 | 18 | | determines that the prima facie speed limit on the highway is |
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| 19 | 19 | | unreasonable or unsafe. A municipality is not required to perform |
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| 20 | 20 | | an engineering or traffic investigation to declare a lower speed |
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| 21 | 21 | | limit under this subsection if the street is located in a residence |
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| 22 | 22 | | district. |
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| 23 | 23 | | (c) A prima facie speed limit that is altered by the |
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| 24 | 24 | | governing body of a municipality under Subsection (b), (b-1), or |
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| 25 | 25 | | (b-3) is effective when the governing body erects signs giving |
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| 26 | 26 | | notice of the new limit and at all times or at other times as |
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| 27 | 27 | | determined. Signs erected due to the lowering of a speed limit on a |
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| 28 | 28 | | street located in a residence district under Subsection (b-1): |
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| 29 | 29 | | (1) must be located at not less than one entrance to |
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| 30 | 30 | | that district; and |
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| 31 | 31 | | (2) are not required to be located at each end of each |
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| 32 | 32 | | block in that district. |
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| 33 | 33 | | (d) The governing body of a municipality that declares a |
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| 34 | 34 | | lower speed limit on a highway or part of a highway under Subsection |
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| 35 | 35 | | [(b-1) or] (b-3), not later than February 1 of each year, shall |
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| 36 | 36 | | publish on its Internet website and submit to the department a |
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| 37 | 37 | | report that compares for each of the two previous calendar years: |
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| 38 | 38 | | (1) the number of traffic citations issued by peace |
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| 39 | 39 | | officers of the municipality and the alleged speed of the vehicles, |
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| 40 | 40 | | for speed limit violations on the highway or part of the highway; |
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| 41 | 41 | | (2) the number of warning citations issued by peace |
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| 42 | 42 | | officers of the municipality on the highway or part of the highway; |
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| 43 | 43 | | and |
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| 44 | 44 | | (3) the number of vehicular collisions that resulted |
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| 45 | 45 | | in injury or death and were attributable to speed limit violations |
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| 46 | 46 | | on the highway or part of the highway. |
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| 47 | 47 | | SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |
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