By Greenberg, Naishtat H.B. No. 34
74R561 JD-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the offense of failing to require a passenger riding in
1-3 a car to be secured by a safety belt.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 107C, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
1-6 Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
1-7 by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (k) and (l) to
1-8 read as follows:
1-9 (c) Except as provided by Subsection (k) of this section, a
1-10 <A> person commits an offense if the person<:>
1-11 <(1)> operates on a road, street, or highway of this
1-12 state a passenger car that is equipped with safety belts<;> and:
1-13 (1) the person <(2)> allows a child who is at least
1-14 four years old but less than 15 years old to ride in <the front
1-15 seat of> the car without requiring the child to be secured by a
1-16 safety belt; or
1-17 (2) another person is riding in the front seat of the
1-18 car and is not secured by a safety belt or a child passenger safety
1-19 seat system.
1-20 (k) This section does not apply to the transportation of:
1-21 (1) a child in a passenger car in which all seating
1-22 positions equipped with a safety belt are occupied; or
1-23 (2) a person in the rear seat of a truck with a
1-24 manufacturer's rated carrying capacity of not more than 1,500
2-1 pounds.
2-2 (l) In this section, "safety belt" means the lap belts and
2-3 any shoulder straps that were original equipment in a passenger
2-4 car.
2-5 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
2-6 applies only to a person convicted of an offense committed on or
2-7 after that date. For purposes of this section, an offense was
2-8 committed or conduct was engaged in before the effective date of
2-9 this Act if any element of the offense or conduct occurred before
2-10 the effective date. An offense committed or conduct engaged in
2-11 before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in
2-12 effect when the offense was committed or the conduct was engaged
2-13 in, and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
2-14 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.