89R10661 AND-D
	By: Goodwin	H.B. No. 5300

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to a project to identify and address high injury road
	segments and the designation of highway safety corridors;
	increasing a fine.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  This Act shall be known as the Dr. Michael James
	Babineaux Act.
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter H, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
	is amended by adding Section 201.6014 to read as follows:
	Sec. 201.6014.  HIGH INJURY NETWORK PROJECT. (a) In this
	section:
	(1)  "High injury network project" means the project
	developed by the institute under this section.
	(2)  "Institute" means the Texas A&M Transportation
	Institute.
	(3)  "Intervention strategy" means a department plan to
	reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries in a certain public
	roadway segment.
	(4)  "Political subdivision" means a municipality or
	county.
	(5)  "Safety action plan" means a plan prepared for the
	Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program.
	(b)  Subject to the availability of funds, the institute
	shall develop and maintain a high injury network project that
	includes an interactive map and data that allows ranking of all
	public roadway segments in the state according to the estimated
	total cost of traffic crashes for each roadway segment during the
	preceding five years, accounting for personal injuries, personal
	property damage, and cost of repairs to the roadway. The institute
	shall update the project's map and rankings at least once every five
	years.
	(c)  The department shall annually develop an intervention
	strategy for:
	(1)  the two highest ranking roadway segments in a
	rural district on the high injury network project;
	(2)  the two highest ranking roadway segments in an
	urban district on the high injury network project; and
	(3)  each of the 10 highest ranking roadway segments in
	any district on the high injury network project that are not
	described by Subdivisions (1) and (2).
	(d)  The department may partner with a political subdivision
	to implement, on its own initiative or in collaboration with any
	governmental unit, for a roadway segment among the 100 highest
	ranking roadway segments on the high injury network project:
	(1)  adaptive signal timing, signal preemption for
	emergency vehicles, wrong-way driving alerts, intelligent
	transportation systems, vehicle-to-infrastructure technology, or
	traffic demand management;
	(2)  highway safety corridors or variable speed limits;
	(3)  interim or innovative design improvements,
	including temporary improvements that do not involve permanent
	roadway reconstruction, including painting, plastic delineator
	posts, water-filled plastic barriers, planters, traffic cones,
	raised line separators, and temporary speed humps/bumps that may be
	used to right-size roadways, create curb extensions, shorten
	crosswalk distances, create roundabouts, establish bike lanes, and
	implement other safety countermeasures that slow speeds and make
	roads safer for multiple road user types;
	(4)  upgrades to any portion of a right-of-way to
	optimize safe travel by any mode of transportation, including
	reducing the portion of a right-of-way dedicated to single occupant
	vehicle lanes if the department determines through an engineering
	and traffic investigation that an updated design will be an
	effective way to reduce deaths and serious injuries on one of the
	100 highest ranking roadways identified in the high injury network
	plan; or
	(5)  any proven safety measure, including any measure
	listed in the Texas Strategic Highway Safety Plan, the Federal
	Highway Administration's Proven Safety Countermeasures initiative
	as it existed on May 1, 2025, or Proven Safety Countermeasures in
	Rural Communities publication as the publication existed on May 1,
	2025, or a local or regional safety action plan if the roadway
	segment is within the area covered by the safety action plan.
	(e)  Notwithstanding any other law, a safety measure under
	Subsection (d)(1) or (5) may be implemented with no requirement for
	environmental process, public input opportunity, engineering and
	traffic investigation, or any other administrative procedure.
	(f)  The department may not implement a safety measure under
	Subsection (d)(2), (3), or (4) before a simple majority vote in
	support of implementing the measure on that roadway segment or a
	broader area by:
	(1)  the governing body of the municipality in which
	the roadway segment is located; or
	(2)  the commissioners court of the county in which the
	roadway segment is located, if the roadway segment is in an
	unincorporated area.
	(g)  This subsection applies only to an on-system roadway
	segment that is not a controlled access highway and has been listed
	as one of the 100 highest ranking roadway segments under the high
	injury network project for three or more years and for which total
	deaths and serious injuries have not decreased by an average of at
	least three percent per year.  A municipality in which a roadway
	segment to which this subsection applies is located or a county in
	which a roadway segment to which this subsection applies is located
	if in an unincorporated area may request that:
	(1)  the department address the safety problems in a
	manner consistent with department plans and guidelines, the
	political subdivision's design manuals, local or regional safety
	action plans that include the roadway segment, and other local
	transportation plans that include the roadway segment; or
	(2)  the department transfer ownership, operations, or
	maintenance responsibility for the roadway segment to the political
	subdivision.
	(h)  If the department determines that a measure requested
	under Subsection (g)(1) is warranted through an engineering and
	traffic investigation, the department may implement the measure
	following a majority vote of:
	(1)  the governing body of a municipality; or
	(2)  the commissioners court of a county if the roadway
	segment is in an unincorporated area.
	(i)  The department may, at the request of a political
	subdivision under Subsection (g)(2), transfer ownership,
	operations, or maintenance responsibility of a roadway segment to
	the political subdivision to allow for the political subdivision to
	address the safety issues on the roadway.
	(j)  The commission shall adopt rules as necessary to
	administer this section.
	(k)  This section may not be construed to limit existing
	department practices for making roadways safer.
	SECTION 3.  Subchapter K, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
	is amended by adding Section 201.9051 to read as follows:
	Sec. 201.9051.  HIGHWAY SAFETY CORRIDOR. (a)  In this
	section, "political subdivision" means a municipality or county.
	(b)  The department may designate as a highway safety
	corridor a portion of a roadway if the roadway segment is one of the
	100 highest ranking roadway segments in the high injury network
	project under Section 201.6014, and the governing body of the
	political subdivision identified under Section 201.6014(f) has
	approved the designation.
	(c)  The department shall remove a highway safety corridor
	designation made under Subsection (b) on the 10th anniversary of
	the designation unless the governing body of the political
	subdivision that approved the designation notifies the department
	that the designation should be removed before that date or extended
	after that date. Each designation extension made under this
	subsection must be for a period of 10 years unless a shorter period
	is requested by the governing body and may be removed or extended as
	provided by this subsection for an initial designation.
	(d)  The department may:
	(1)  designate as a highway safety corridor a portion
	of a roadway containing a site with a high number of traffic
	collisions that lead to a serious injury or fatality as identified
	by the department; and
	(2)  at the department's discretion, remove a
	designation made under this subsection.
	(e)  The department shall erect a sign at each end of a
	designated portion of a roadway and at appropriate intermediate
	sites along the roadway:
	(1)  indicating that the roadway is a highway safety
	corridor; and
	(2)  stating "Fines double: highway safety corridor."
	(f)  The department by rule may prescribe forms for use by a
	political subdivision for the designation of a highway safety
	corridor under Subsection (b) and the removal or extension of a
	highway safety corridor designation under Subsection (c).
	(g)  The department may distribute literature to the public
	concerning highway safety corridors designated under this section.
	SECTION 4.  Subchapter D, Chapter 542, Transportation Code,
	is amended by adding Section 542.405 to read as follows:
	Sec. 542.405.  FINE FOR OFFENSE IN HIGHWAY SAFETY CORRIDOR.
	(a) In this section, "highway safety corridor" means a portion of a
	roadway designated under Section 201.9051.
	(b)  If an offense under this subtitle, other than an offense
	under Chapter 548 or 552 or Section 545.412 or 545.413, is committed
	in a highway safety corridor:
	(1)  the minimum fine applicable to the offense is
	twice the minimum fine that would be applicable to the offense if it
	were committed outside a highway safety corridor; and
	(2)  the maximum fine applicable to the offense is
	twice the maximum fine that would be applicable to the offense if it
	were committed outside a highway safety corridor.
	SECTION 5.  Section 545.353, Transportation Code, is amended
	by adding Subsection (l) to read as follows:
	(l)  A speed limit established under the program established
	under Subsection (k) may be set at any speed supported by an
	engineering and traffic investigation if:
	(1)  the roadway segment is one of the 100 highest
	ranking roadway segments under the high injury network project
	established under Section 201.6014; and
	(2)  the department has determined a variable speed
	limit may be an effective way to reduce deaths and serious injuries
	on the roadway segment.
	SECTION 6.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
	to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
	An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
	covered by the law in effect immediately before the effective date
	of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
	purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
	before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
	was committed before that date.
	SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect September 1, 2025.