73R8760 CAG-F
          By Greenberg, Naishtat, et al.                          H.B. No. 93
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 93:
          By Linebarger                                       C.S.H.B. No. 93
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the offense of failing to require a passenger riding in
    1-3  a car to be secured by a safety belt.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 107C, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
    1-6  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
    1-7  by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (k) and (l) to
    1-8  read as follows:
    1-9        (c)  Except as provided by Subsection (k) of this section, a
   1-10  <A> person commits an offense if the person<:>
   1-11              <(1)>  operates on a road, street, or highway of this
   1-12  state a passenger car that is equipped with safety belts<;> and:
   1-13              (1)  the person <(2)>  allows a child who is at least
   1-14  four years old but less than 15 years old to ride in <the front
   1-15  seat of> the car without requiring the child to be secured by a
   1-16  safety belt; or
   1-17              (2)  another person is riding in the front seat of the
   1-18  car and is not secured by a safety belt or a child passenger safety
   1-19  seat system.
   1-20        (k)  This section does not apply to the transportation of:
   1-21              (1)  a child in a passenger car in which all seating
   1-22  positions equipped with a safety belt are occupied; or
   1-23              (2)  a person in the rear seat of a truck with a
   1-24  manufacturer's rated carrying capacity of not more than 1,500
    2-1  pounds.
    2-2        (l)  In this section, "safety belt" means the lap belts and
    2-3  shoulder straps that were original equipment in a passenger car but
    2-4  does not include a shoulder strap if the shoulder strap was not
    2-5  part of the original equipment in the passenger car.
    2-6        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
    2-7  applies only to a person convicted of an offense committed on or
    2-8  after that date.  For purposes of this section, an offense was
    2-9  committed or conduct was engaged in before the effective date of
   2-10  this Act if any element of the offense or conduct occurred before
   2-11  the effective date.  An offense committed or conduct engaged in
   2-12  before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in
   2-13  effect when the offense was committed or the conduct was engaged
   2-14  in, and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
   2-15        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-17  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   2-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.