City of Houston 2023Legislative Report

Public Safety

Bill Sponsors / Authors:

Senfronia Thompson   Rep. Senfronia Thompson
  D - Houston

Borris Miles   Sen. Borris Miles
  D - Houston

 

Supporting Documents / Links:

Public Safety GraphicHouse Bill 1263 - School Crossing Safety

The City of Houston is responsible for all traffic safety interventions on City roads. As such, the City ensures the safety of children going to and from school on city roads through necessary school safety zones, cross walks, flashing lights, and other interventions.

House Bill 1263 as filed by Representative Senfronia Thompson would have allowed unlicensed individuals to make and implement engineering decisions.

As filed. HB 1263 contained broad language that appears to circumvent the reasoned analysis of a full engineering and traffic investigation, and remove the city traffic engineer from the deliberation process when approving and implementing traffic and pedestrian safety interventions.

The filed version of H.B. 1263 was bracketed to the City of Houston and would have restricted the city traffic engineer’s authority to govern the designation, installation and maintenance of school crossing zones and school crosswalks, which opens the door to unintended health and safety consequences by allowing citizens, without the appropriate engineering training, to request implementation of crossing zones and school crosswalks in the roadway, independent of any engineering review.

How would have the filed version of House Bill 1263 contributed to unsafe/inequitable public spaces?

  1. Engineering decisions must be made by engineers: As filed, the proposed language would not have allowed Houston Public Works to reject a request for a crosswalk. It is important we consider other factors such as sight distance and speed when considering crosswalk locations.
  2. The filed bill presented a moral hazard for the City of Houston: By allowing unlicensed individuals to make decisions within the City of Houston’s right-of-way, H.B. 1263 exposed the City of Houston to unmitigated risk for increased serious injuries and fatalities, resulting from the improper selection and installation of traffic safety devices.
  3. Inequitable outcomes from H.B. 1263 favored wealthier schools and/or school districts within the City’s jurisdiction: Public schools that can afford to hire independent engineers to assess safety needs in or near a school or school district, will be prioritized (means-driven) over schools who are unable to bear the costs of professional services and associated traffic safety devices.

After numerous attempts of sitting down with the Representative and the stakeholders pushing the legislation, Senator Miles was able to convene a meeting between the City and HISD to talk through the necessary changes to ensure road safety. After that, a Senate Floor Amendment was made by Senator Miles that instead reads:

(d) A local authority ’s standards, policies, orders, ordinances, regulations, or other measures that designate a school crossing zone or school crosswalk must include a high school campus that is located in a municipality with a population of two million or more.
(e) On request of an administrator of a high school campus described by Subsection (d), a local authority shall determine the components, including any engineering report, necessary to designate a school crossing zone or school crosswalk at the campus and shall make the designation. This subsection does not apply to a high school campus undergoing major expansion or new construction that requires the preparation of a traffic impact analysis as part of the permitting process.

These changes help to ensure that a City's Traffic Engineer, and not someone that is unlicensed, will be making the determination of necessary and safety roadway improvements across all schools in the City of Houston. The Senate amendments were accepted by the House, and HB 1263 has been sent to the Governor.

House Bill 1263 passed with the City’s amendments and will take effect September 1, 2023.