By De La Garza                                        H.B. No. 2611
                                 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.  Section 107C, Chapter 804, Acts of the 69th
    1-5  Legislature, Regular Session, 1989, of Article 6701d, Vernon's
    1-6  Texas Civil Statutes is 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.>  a motor vehicle includes those vehicles that were
   1-10  originally equipped by the manufacturer with safety belts.  Safety
   1-11  belt includes the lap belts and shoulder straps that were original
   1-12  equipment in the motor vehicle.  A safety belt does not include a
   1-13  shoulder strap if the shoulder strap was not part of the original
   1-14  equipment in the motor vehicle.
   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> motor vehicle while the motor vehicle is being
   1-19  operated on a road, street, or highway of 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> motor vehicle that is equipped with safety
    2-3  belts; and
    2-4              (2)  allows a child who is at least four years old but
    2-5  less than 15 years old to ride in the front seat of the <passenger
    2-6  car> motor vehicle without requiring the child to be secured by a
    2-7  safety belt.
    2-8        (d)  A <passenger car> motor vehicle or a seat in a
    2-9  <passenger car> motor vehicle is deemed to be equipped with a
   2-10  safety belt if the <passenger car> motor vehicle is required under
   2-11  Section 139E of this Act to be equipped with safety belts.
   2-12        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
   2-13  applies only to a person convicted of an offense committed on or
   2-14  after the effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this
   2-15  section, an offense was committed or conduct was engaged in before
   2-16  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense or
   2-17  conduct occurred before the effective date.  An offense committed
   2-18  or conduct engaged in before the effective date of this Act is
   2-19  covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed or the
   2-20  conduct was engaged in, and the former law is continued in effect
   2-21  for this purpose.
   2-22        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-23  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-24  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-25  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.