HB5253 - Relating to the authority of a municipality to alter speed limits.

  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.