Bill Text: TX SB1418 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the authority of the Department of Public Safety and certain local law enforcement agencies to establish a temporary checkpoint on a highway or street to determine whether persons are driving while intoxicated.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-18 - Referred to Criminal Justice [SB1418 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-SB1418-Introduced.html

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83R7006 SCL-D
By: Davis S.B. No. 1418

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of the Department of Public Safety and
certain local law enforcement agencies to establish a temporary
checkpoint on a highway or street to determine whether persons are
driving while intoxicated.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 1, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended
by adding Chapter 65 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 65. SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS
Art. 65.01. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Department" means the Department of Public
Safety.
(2) "Highway or street" and "limited-access or
controlled-access highway" have the meanings assigned by Section
541.302, Transportation Code.
(3) "Law enforcement agency" means:
(A) the department;
(B) the sheriff's department of a county with a
population of 250,000 or more; or
(C) the police department of a municipality with
a population of 350,000 or more.
(4) "Sobriety checkpoint" means a checkpoint
authorized under Article 65.02.
Art. 65.02. AUTHORIZATION FOR OPERATION OF SOBRIETY
CHECKPOINTS. (a) Except as otherwise provided by Subsections (b)
and (c), a law enforcement agency may operate on a highway or street
a temporary sobriety checkpoint as provided by this chapter to
determine whether motor vehicle operators are intoxicated and in
violation of Section 49.04 or 49.045, Penal Code.
(b) A law enforcement agency may not operate a sobriety
checkpoint on:
(1) a limited-access or controlled-access highway;
(2) an overpass;
(3) a bridge or causeway; or
(4) the single ingress to or egress from a designated
area.
(c) The department may not operate a sobriety checkpoint in
a county with a population of less than 250,000.
Art. 65.03. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY COORDINATION. Each law
enforcement agency shall coordinate efforts with other law
enforcement agencies as appropriate to implement this chapter.
Art. 65.04. APPROVAL OF AND PROCEDURES FOR OPERATION OF
SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS. (a) Before a law enforcement agency begins
operating a sobriety checkpoint, the procedures to be used in the
operation of the checkpoint must be approved by:
(1) a captain for the Texas Highway Patrol for a
checkpoint operated by the department;
(2) the elected sheriff of a county for a checkpoint
operated by the sheriff's department of the county; or
(3) the police chief of a municipality for a
checkpoint operated by the police department of the municipality.
(b) The law enforcement agency must record in writing and
publish on an appropriate publicly accessible Internet website:
(1) the criteria for and procedures used in selecting
each location of a sobriety checkpoint; and
(2) the procedures to be used in the operation of each
sobriety checkpoint, including procedures for selecting motor
vehicles to be stopped.
(c) The procedures for the operation of a sobriety
checkpoint must ensure that the selection of motor vehicles to be
stopped is reasonably predictable and nonarbitrary.
(d) The criteria for selecting the location for a sobriety
checkpoint must include the number of traffic accidents in the
vicinity of the location in which the use of alcohol was a factor
and that occurred in the preceding 12 months and the number of
arrests for intoxication-related offenses in that vicinity in the
preceding 12 months. The criteria for selecting the location of a
sobriety checkpoint may not include, and the selection of the
location of a sobriety checkpoint must be made without regard to,
the ethnic or socioeconomic characteristics of the area in which
the checkpoint is located.
(e) The law enforcement agency, in establishing the
location, time, and design of a sobriety checkpoint, shall consider
the safety of the public entering the checkpoint and the peace
officers operating the checkpoint. The law enforcement agency
shall make reasonable efforts to place signs or other devices to
advise an operator of an oncoming motor vehicle of the existence and
purpose of the sobriety checkpoint, to demarcate the checkpoint
with flares, flags, or traffic cones, and to otherwise illuminate
the checkpoint as necessary. The design of a sobriety checkpoint
may require each motor vehicle passing through the checkpoint to be
diverted to a location adjacent to the highway or street to ensure
safety.
(f) The peace officer who makes the initial traffic
directive to or other communication with the operator of a motor
vehicle at the sobriety checkpoint must be wearing a uniform of the
law enforcement agency that is distinguishable from civilian dress.
(g) The law enforcement agency shall establish procedures
governing the encounters between motor vehicle operators and the
peace officers to ensure that:
(1) a video and audio recording is made of each
encounter;
(2) intrusion on the operator is minimized; and
(3) any inquiry by the peace officer is reasonably
related to determining whether the operator is intoxicated and in
violation of Section 49.04 or 49.045, Penal Code.
(h) Notwithstanding Section 521.025 or 601.053,
Transportation Code, or Section 411.205, Government Code, a peace
officer may not request a motor vehicle operator at the sobriety
checkpoint to display the operator's driver's license or license to
carry a concealed handgun or to furnish evidence of financial
responsibility unless the officer has reasonable suspicion or
probable cause to believe that the operator has committed or is
committing an offense. A peace officer may not direct a motor
vehicle operator to leave the vehicle or move the vehicle off the
highway or street or sobriety checkpoint diversion route unless the
officer has reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe that
the operator has committed or is committing an offense.
(i) A peace officer at the sobriety checkpoint may not
require a motor vehicle operator to perform a sobriety test unless
the officer has reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe
that the operator is in violation of Section 49.04 or 49.045, Penal
Code. A peace officer who requests or requires an operator to
provide a specimen of breath or blood must comply with Chapter 724,
Transportation Code.
(j) Unless a peace officer has reasonable suspicion or
probable cause to detain a motor vehicle operator for a criminal
offense, the time during which an officer makes an inquiry of an
operator should not exceed three minutes, and the total time during
which the operator must wait to pass through the checkpoint should
not exceed 10 minutes. The law enforcement agency shall make
reasonable efforts to reduce these periods to not more than one and
five minutes, respectively.
(k) Before beginning the operation of a sobriety
checkpoint, the law enforcement agency shall publicize through the
use of the media the date and time for the operation of that
checkpoint but is not required to disclose the location of the
checkpoint.
(l) A law enforcement agency may not operate a sobriety
checkpoint at one location for more than four hours and may not
operate a checkpoint at the same location more than once in a
12-month period. For the purposes of this subsection, sobriety
checkpoints located within one mile of each other are considered to
be at the same location.
(m) For each sobriety checkpoint operated under this
chapter, the law enforcement agency operating the checkpoint shall
maintain:
(1) until at least the fifth anniversary of the date on
which the agency concludes the operation of the checkpoint, a
record of the operation of the checkpoint that contains:
(A) the date, time, location, and duration of the
checkpoint;
(B) the procedures used in selecting the location
for the checkpoint;
(C) the number and characteristics of the motor
vehicles stopped at the checkpoint;
(D) the number and nature of any arrests made or
citations issued at the checkpoint; and
(E) the identity of each peace officer operating
the checkpoint; and
(2) until at least the second anniversary of the date
on which the agency concludes the operation of the checkpoint, any
video or audio recording made under Subsection (g)(1) of an
encounter between a motor vehicle operator and a peace officer at
the checkpoint.
Art. 65.05. PUBLIC NOTICE. (a) Not later than the third
day before the date the operation of a sobriety checkpoint is
scheduled to begin, the captain, sheriff, or police chief who
approved the checkpoint, as applicable, shall provide public notice
of the date, time, location, and duration of the checkpoint by:
(1) posting notice on the law enforcement agency's
Internet website; or
(2) if the law enforcement agency does not have an
Internet website or is otherwise unable to comply with Subdivision
(1):
(A) requesting the secretary of state to post the
notice on the secretary of state's Internet website, if the
department will operate the checkpoint;
(B) posting the notice on a bulletin board in the
county courthouse at a location convenient and clearly visible to
the public, if the sheriff's department of the county will operate
the checkpoint; or
(C) posting the notice on a bulletin board in the
city hall at a location convenient and clearly visible to the
public, if the police department of the municipality will operate
the checkpoint.
(b) On receipt of a request by the department under
Subsection (a)(2)(A), the secretary of state shall post notice on
the secretary of state's Internet website of the date, time,
location, and duration of the sobriety checkpoint with respect to
which the request is made.
(c) The law enforcement agency or secretary of state shall
post a notice required by this article continuously for the
three-day period preceding the operation of the sobriety
checkpoint.
Art. 65.06. REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF SOBRIETY
CHECKPOINTS. (a) Not later than January 15 of each calendar year,
each law enforcement agency that operated a sobriety checkpoint
during the preceding calendar year shall submit a report on the
operation of the checkpoint to the traffic safety section of the
traffic operations division of the Texas Department of
Transportation.
(b) The traffic operations division is entitled to inspect
any information in the possession of the law enforcement agency
that relates to the operation of a sobriety checkpoint by the
agency.
(c) Not later than February 1, 2019, the traffic operations
division shall submit a report on the effectiveness of sobriety
checkpoints operated under this chapter to the governor, the
lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of
representatives.
Art. 65.07. EXPIRATION. This chapter expires August 31,
2019.
SECTION 2. A law enforcement agency authorized to operate a
sobriety checkpoint under Chapter 65, Code of Criminal Procedure,
as added by this Act, shall submit the first report required by
Article 65.06, Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, not
later than January 15, 2014.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2013.