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New Texas Laws That Affect You

Hundreds of new laws went into effect yesterday across Texas as a result of the last legislative session.

Following are some highlights of laws that are now in effect.

Cellphones: Prohibits drivers from using handheld wireless devices in a school zone unless the vehicle is stopped or a hands-free device is used. (HB55)

Teen drivers: Prohibits drivers under 18 from using cellphones while driving for the first year they have their license. The current ban is for six months. (HB339)

Seat belts: Requires all passengers to buckle up, including those in the back seat. (HB537)

Motorcycles: Outlaws motorcycle passengers 5 and younger except in a sidecar or during an emergency (HB537).

Child seats: Requires children younger than 8 who are shorter than 4 feet, 9 inches to sit in a booster seat; police can issue warnings but not fines until June 1. (SB61)

Blind pedestrians: Increases the penalties incurred by motorists who cause serious bodily injury or death to blind pedestrians. (HB1343)

Handicapped parking: Increases the penalties for misusing parking spaces or placards for people with disabilities. (HB3095)

License plates: Authorizes "Save Our Beaches" plates to raise money for the upkeep and protection of Texas beaches and "A Fine Cause for Unknown Cancer" plates to raise money for cancer prevention and research. (HB1286 and HB4064)

Electric vehicles: increases from 35 to 45 mph the maximum posted speed limit for a street or highway on which neighborhood electric vehicles — similar to golf carts — may be operated. (SB129)

Drunken driving: Allows a minor’s driver’s license to be suspended for failing a breath- or blood-alcohol test while operating a watercraft and automatically suspends the license of someone who drives while intoxicated with a child passenger. (SB328)

Driving exams: Requires all applicants under 18 to take the driving skills exam to receive a driver’s license. (HB2730)

Bike safety: Adds questions to the driver’s license exam about rights and responsibilities in relation to bicyclists. (SB2041)

Defibrillators: Requires convalescent homes, nursing homes and related institutions to have an automated external defibrillator and personnel trained to use one. (HB392)

Autism: Extends health insurance coverage of kids with autism through their ninth birthday. Current law requires coverage of kids ages 3 to 6. (HB451)

Flu shots: Allows pharmacists to administer influenza immunizations to children 7 or older without a physician’s authorization. Current law allows this only for kids 14 to 17. (HB1409)

Food workers: Requires restaurants to list food and food-handling activities that involve bare-hand contact and to adopt some contamination control guidelines. (HB3012)

Wrongly imprisoned: The Tim Cole Act increases the lump sum compensation for a wrongly imprisoned person to $80,000 per year in prison, up from $50,000. A separate law creates an advisory panel named after Cole to study how to prevent wrongful convictions. (HB1736 and HB498)

Drunken kids: Allows minors to be charged with public intoxication (HB558).

Jury duty: Exempts people from petit jury service if they have custody of a child younger than 15, rather than 10, and if such service would leave the child without adequate supervision. A second law raises the minimum penalty for defaulting jurors from $10 per day to $100 per day. (HB319 and HB1665)

Sex offenders: Restricts use of the Internet by certain registered sex offenders and requires all registered sex offenders to provide their e-mail addresses when they register. A second law expands registration requirements for homeless sex offenders. (SB689 and HB2153)

Domestic abuse: Creates a new felony offense of "continuous violence against the family" for people who cause bodily injury to a significant other or relative two or more times over 12 months. (HB2240)

Scams: Increases the penalties in certain fraud cases if the victim was elderly. (HB2328)

Jail births: Prohibits prison officials from using restraints on a pregnant inmate while she is in labor or recovering from delivery, unless a supervisor determines that they are necessary for safety or to prevent escape. (HB3653)

Dogfighting: Increases penalties for owning or possessing equipment used in dogfighting or in training a dog for dogfighting. (SB554)

Disasters: Increases the punishment for assault, robbery, burglary or theft committed in an area subject to a government disaster declaration or an emergency evacuation order. (SB359)

Child custody: Allows a military service member who does not have partial or joint custody of a child to petition the court for extra periods of possession or access to compensate for time lost due to involuntary deployment. (HB409)

Election workers: Bars felons from serving as volunteer election deputy registrars unless they have been pardoned or fully served their punishment. Also allows high school students 16 and older to serve as student election clerks and requires schools to count the time away from school as an excused absence in certain circumstances. (HB488 and SB1134).

Voting: Strengthens pretesting procedures for electronic voting machines and prohibits the machines from having any wireless capability or connection to the Internet, in most cases. (HB2524)

Facebook: Makes it a felony to use the name or persona of another person on commercial social media sites with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten another person. (HB2003)

For more information about the new laws, go to www.legis.state.tx.us.