By:  Bosse                                            H.B. No. 1048
       73R4752 JD-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the operation of tow trucks.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 1, Chapter 1135, Acts of the 70th
    1-5  Legislature, Regular Session, 1987 (Article 6687-9b, Vernon's Texas
    1-6  Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subdivisions (6) and (7) to
    1-7  read as follows:
    1-8              (6)  "Compensation" means a specific, direct, and
    1-9  identifiable charge for a towing occurrence.
   1-10              (7)  "Disabled motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle
   1-11  that cannot be normally or safely driven because of an engine
   1-12  malfunction, body damage, or equipment impairment.  A motor vehicle
   1-13  is not a disabled motor vehicle merely because it is unoccupied.
   1-14        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-15  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-16  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-17  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-18  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-19  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-20  passage, and it is so enacted.