37 Tex. Admin. Code § 4.14 - Municipal and County Certification Requirements
(a) Certain peace officers from an authorized
municipality or county may be trained and certified to enforce the federal
safety regulations provided the municipality or county:
(1) executes a Memorandum of Understanding
with the department concerning the working policies and procedures of the
inspection program whereby the resources of all agencies will be maximized,
duplication of efforts will be minimized, and uniformity in the inspection
program will be maintained;
(2)
implements a program that ensures only their certified officers are conducting
the inspections, utilizing only department approved forms, and following the
inspection program guidelines approved by the department;
(3) implements a program that ensures their
officers perform the required number of inspections annually and successfully
complete the required annual certification training to maintain the officers'
certification;
(4) agrees to
immediately suspend, from performing commercial vehicle inspection and
enforcement activities, authorized in this chapter, any officer that fails to
maintain their certification or that fails to perform the inspections following
the guidelines approved by the department;
(5) agrees to notify the department within 10
days of a change in an officer's certification and provides a list to the
department by January 31st of each year of the officers that have been
suspended and are no longer certified;
(6) provides all roadside inspection data to
the department through electronic systems that are compatible with the
department's system within 10 days of the inspection, and forwards paper copies
immediately thereafter;
(7) agrees
to forward crash reports involving commercial motor vehicles to the Texas
Department of Transportation no later than 10 days after the date of the crash
investigation;
(8) agrees to
investigate and determine whether a correction to the data needs to be made
when that data is challenged; to notify the motor carrier and the department in
writing of the results of the investigation within 10 days; and then to make
any needed corrections and forward the corrected reports to the department
immediately;
(9) acknowledges that
the department may conduct random in-person observation of inspections
conducted in order to ensure that the officers maintain practical proficiency
in the commercial vehicle inspection program;
(10) acknowledges that the primary purpose of
certification to enforce federal safety regulations is to improve commercial
vehicle safety and ensure voluntary compliance with applicable laws and
regulations;
(11) acknowledges that
certification to enforce federal safety regulations may not be used as a
primary method to generate program revenue through enforcement penalties or
enhance criminal interdiction activities; and
(12) acknowledges that officers certified to
enforce federal safety regulations will not participate in secondary employment
activities that present a conflict of interest related to their commercial
vehicle enforcement duties.
(b) Non-compliance with the provisions of the
Memorandum of Understanding or the training, officer certification, or
data-sharing requirements by the municipality or county, including timeliness
of reporting data, or any other provision of this section, will constitute
grounds to decertify the municipality's or county's authority to enforce the
federal safety regulations.
(c) The
failure of a municipality or county to show activity to the department within a
six (6) month period will constitute grounds to decertify the municipality or
county.
(d) Each municipality or
county that has peace officers trained and certified to enforce the federal
safety regulations shall be required to update and renew their Memorandum of
Understanding with the department every two years on a staggered schedule to be
determined by the department. If the initial Memorandum of Understanding with
the department does not have an effective date shown, then the effective date
shall be the date of acceptance by the department.
(e) In determining whether a municipality
meets the population threshold requirements of Texas Transportation Code,
§
644.101, the
department will use either:
(1) the most
recent federal decennial census, or
(2) a resolution or proclamation issued under
the authority of the governing body of the municipality that attests and
certifies that the population of the municipality, including the authorized
extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality, meets or exceeds the
population threshold amounts listed in Texas Transportation Code, §
644.101.
Notes
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