By:  Brimer                                            H.B. No. 167
       73R1594 DWS-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to requiring safety chains for vehicles towing trailers.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Article XIII, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
    1-5  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
    1-6  by adding Section 106A to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 106A.  SAFETY CHAINS.  (a)  In this section "safety
    1-8  chains" means flexible tension members connected from the front
    1-9  portion of a towed vehicle to the rear portion of a towing vehicle
   1-10  to maintain connection between the vehicles if the primary
   1-11  connecting system fails.
   1-12        (b)  A person may not operate a passenger vehicle while
   1-13  towing a trailer or house trailer on a public highway unless safety
   1-14  chains of a type approved by the department are attached in a
   1-15  manner approved by the department from the  trailer or house
   1-16  trailer to the towing vehicle.
   1-17        (c)  The department shall adopt rules setting forth the type
   1-18  of safety chains required to be used based on the weight of the
   1-19  trailer or house trailer being towed.  The rules shall:
   1-20              (1)  require safety chains to be strong enough to
   1-21  maintain connection between the trailer or house trailer and the
   1-22  towing vehicle; and
   1-23              (2)  indicate the proper method of attachment of safety
   1-24  chains between the trailer or the house trailer and the towing
    2-1  vehicle.
    2-2        SECTION 2.  The Department of Public Safety shall adopt
    2-3  initial rules under Section 106A(c), Uniform Act Regulating Traffic
    2-4  on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as
    2-5  added by this Act, not later than December 1, 1993.  A person is
    2-6  not required before March 1, 1994, to have safety chains that meet
    2-7  the requirements of the rules adopted by the Department of Public
    2-8  Safety.
    2-9        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-10  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-11  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-12  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-13  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-14  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-15  passage, and it is so enacted.