Anchía bill letting cities drop speed limits to 20

The text as introduced · 403 words

89R13560 JAM-F

By: Anchía
H.B. No. 5253

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the authority of a municipality to alter speed limits.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Sections 545.356(b-1), (c), and (d),

Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:

(b-1) Except as provided by Subsection (b-3), the governing

body of a municipality, for a highway or a part of a highway in the

municipality that is not an officially designated or marked highway

or road of the state highway system, may declare a lower speed limit

of not less than 20 [ 25 ] miles per hour, if the governing body

determines that the prima facie speed limit on the highway is

unreasonable or unsafe. A municipality is not required to perform

an engineering or traffic investigation to declare a lower speed

limit under this subsection if the street is located in a residence

district.

(c) A prima facie speed limit that is altered by the

governing body of a municipality under Subsection (b), (b-1), or

(b-3) is effective when the governing body erects signs giving

notice of the new limit and at all times or at other times as

determined. Signs erected due to the lowering of a speed limit on a

street located in a residence district under Subsection (b-1):

(1) must be located at not less than one entrance to

that district; and

(2) are not required to be located at each end of each

block in that district.

(d) The governing body of a municipality that declares a

lower speed limit on a highway or part of a highway under Subsection

[ (b-1) or ] (b-3), not later than February 1 of each year, shall

publish on its Internet website and submit to the department a

report that compares for each of the two previous calendar years:

(1) the number of traffic citations issued by peace

officers of the municipality and the alleged speed of the vehicles,

for speed limit violations on the highway or part of the highway;

(2) the number of warning citations issued by peace

officers of the municipality on the highway or part of the highway;

and

(3) the number of vehicular collisions that resulted

in injury or death and were attributable to speed limit violations

on the highway or part of the highway.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.