BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1888

By: Lopez, Janie

Transportation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current law allows the Texas Transportation Commission to authorize a port authority to issue permits for the movement of oversize or overweight trucks carrying cargo on state highways in certain counties. An overweight corridor places a fee on overweight trucks transporting goods for the purpose of maintaining and operating the overweight corridor's highways. These overweight corridors allow for the efficient and safe movement of goods and incentivize cargo transport companies to call on these ports. The 84th Texas Legislature established an overweight corridor between the Free Trade International Bridge in Los Indios to the Port of Harlingen using Farm-to-Market Roads 509 and 106. However, recent cartel activity on the Mexican side of the Los Indios Bridge has made it unsafe for cargo vehicles to cross at that location. Many truckers now prefer to cross the border at a different location but to do so must travel on a 13‑mile stretch of U.S. Highway 281 that has not been designated as an overweight corridor. C.S.H.B. 1888 seeks to address this issue by creating two new overweight corridors and authorizing the commission, through their rulemaking process, and in consultation with the Harlingen Port Authority, to designate other routes as overweight corridors.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1888 amends the Transportation Code to require the Texas Transportation Commission to designate, for a permit for the movement of oversize and overweight vehicles that is issued by a port authority located in a county that borders the United Mexican States, and with the consent of the port authority, the most direct route from the Free Trade International Bridge to the western Cameron County line using Farm-to-Market Road 509 and U.S. Highway 281. The bill authorizes the commission to designate another route in consultation with the port authority.

C.S.H.B. 1888 changes a location where the commission may authorize a regional mobility authority to issue permits for the movement of oversize or overweight vehicles carrying cargo in Hidalgo County from U.S. Highway 281 between that highway's intersection with the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge and Spur 29 to the highway between that highway's intersection with the bridge and the highway's intersection with the eastern Hidalgo County line.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1888 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

Whereas the introduced required the commission to designate the most direct route from Pharr International Bridge to certain entrances to the Port of Harlingen, the substitute requires the commission to designate the most direct route from the western Cameron County line using Farm-to-Market Road 509 and U.S. Highway 281. The substitute includes a provision that was not in the introduced changing where the commission may authorize such permits to be issued in Hidalgo County on U.S. Highway 281.