By Oakley                                             H.B. No. 2406
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the use of a safety belt.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subsections (a), (b), and (c), Section 107C,
    1-5  Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's
    1-6  Texas Civil Statutes) are amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  In this section, "passenger car" includes a truck with a
    1-8  manufacturer's rated carrying capacity of not more than 1,500
    1-9  pounds and includes those cars that were originally equipped by the
   1-10  manufacturer with safety belts.  Safety belt includes the lap belts
   1-11  and shoulder straps that were original equipment in the passenger
   1-12  car.  A safety belt does not include a shoulder strap if the
   1-13  shoulder strap was not part of the original equipment in the
   1-14  passenger car.
   1-15        (b)  A person commits an offense if the person:
   1-16              (1)  is at least 15 years old;
   1-17              (2)  is riding in the front seat of a passenger car
   1-18  while the car is being operated on a road, street, or highway of
   1-19  this state;
   1-20              (3)  is occupying a seat that is equipped with a safety
   1-21  belt; and
   1-22              (4)  is not secured by a safety belt.
   1-23        (c)  A person commits an offense if the person:
    2-1              (1)  operates on a road, street, or highway of this
    2-2  state a passenger car that is equipped with safety belts; and
    2-3              (2)  another person <allows a child> who is at least
    2-4  four years old <but less than 15 years old to ride> is riding in
    2-5  the front seat of the car and is not <without requiring the child
    2-6  to be> secured by a safety belt.
    2-7        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
    2-8  applies only to a person convicted of an offense committed on or
    2-9  after the effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this
   2-10  section, an offense was committed or conduct was engaged in before
   2-11  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense or
   2-12  conduct occurred before the effective date.  An offense committed
   2-13  or conduct engaged in before the effective date of this Act is
   2-14  covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed or the
   2-15  conduct was engaged in, and the former law is continued in effect
   2-16  for this purpose.
   2-17        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.