H.B. No. 644
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the annual registration of certain farm trailers, farm
1-3 semitrailers, or forestry vehicles.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 2(c), Chapter 88, General Laws, Acts of
1-6 the 41st Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1929 (Article 6675a-2,
1-7 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-8 (c) Owners of farm trailers and farm semitrailers with a
1-9 gross weight exceeding four thousand (4,000) pounds but not
1-10 exceeding thirty-four thousand (34,000) <twenty thousand (20,000)>
1-11 pounds and used solely to transport their own seasonally harvested
1-12 agricultural products and livestock from the place of production to
1-13 the place of process, market or storage thereof, or farm supplies
1-14 from the place of loading to the farm, and owners of machinery used
1-15 solely for the purpose of drilling water wells or construction
1-16 machinery (not designed for the transportation of persons or
1-17 property on the public highways), may operate or move such vehicles
1-18 temporarily upon the highways without the payment of the regular
1-19 registration fees as prescribed by law, provided the owners of such
1-20 farm trailers and semitrailers and machinery secure for a fee of
1-21 five dollars ($5) for each year or portion thereof a distinguishing
1-22 license plate from the Texas <State Highway> Department of
1-23 Transportation through the County Tax Collector upon forms
1-24 prescribed and furnished by the department. Such vehicles shall be
2-1 exempt from the inspection requirements of Sections 140 and 141 of
2-2 the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways, as amended (Article
2-3 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
2-4 SECTION 2. Chapter 88, General Laws, Acts of the 41st
2-5 Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1929 (Article 6675a-1 et seq.,
2-6 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Section 5p to
2-7 read as follows:
2-8 Sec. 5p. (a) In this section, "forestry vehicle" means a
2-9 vehicle used exclusively for transporting untreated ties, stave
2-10 bolts, plywood bolts, pulpwood billets, wood chips, stumps,
2-11 sawdust, moss, bark, wood shavings, and property used in production
2-12 of those products.
2-13 (b) The department shall design and provide for the issuance
2-14 of special license plates for a forestry vehicle. The license
2-15 plates shall bear the words "forestry vehicle."
2-16 (c) The department shall issue license plates under this
2-17 section to a person who:
2-18 (1) applies to the department on a form prescribed by
2-19 the department;
2-20 (2) pays the fee prescribed under Subsection (d) of
2-21 this section; and
2-22 (3) submits with the application proof, acceptable to
2-23 the department, that the person is eligible to receive the license
2-24 plates.
2-25 (d) The department shall prescribe a fee for issuance of
2-26 special plates under this section at an amount necessary to recover
2-27 the cost of administering this section. This fee is in addition to
3-1 any other fee imposed by this Act. The department shall collect
3-2 any additional fee that a county imposes under this Act for
3-3 registration of the forestry vehicle and shall forward the fee to
3-4 the appropriate county for disposition as provided by this Act.
3-5 The department shall deposit fees collected under this section,
3-6 except fees forwarded to a county, in the state treasury to the
3-7 credit of the state highway fund.
3-8 (e) If license plates issued under this section are lost,
3-9 stolen, or mutilated, the owner of the forestry vehicle may obtain
3-10 replacement plates from the department by paying a replacement fee
3-11 prescribed by the department at an amount necessary to recover the
3-12 cost of providing the replacement plates.
3-13 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-19 passage, and it is so enacted.