By Gallego                                             H.B. No. 849
       74R2686 JD-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the requirement that safety belts be worn by persons
    1-3  operating or riding in certain motor vehicles.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Sections 107C(a), (b), (c), and (d), Uniform Act
    1-6  Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil
    1-7  Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
    1-8        (a)  In this section, "safety belt" means the lap belts and
    1-9  any shoulder straps that were original equipment in a motor vehicle
   1-10  <"passenger car" includes a truck with a manufacturer's rated
   1-11  carrying capacity of not more than 1,500 pounds>.
   1-12        (b)  A person commits an offense if the person:
   1-13              (1)  is at least 15 years old;
   1-14              (2)  is riding in the front seat of a motor vehicle
   1-15  <passenger car> while the vehicle <car> is being operated on a
   1-16  road, street, or highway of this state;
   1-17              (3)  is occupying a seat that is equipped with a safety
   1-18  belt; and
   1-19              (4)  is not secured by a safety belt.
   1-20        (c)  A person commits an offense if the person:
   1-21              (1)  operates on a road, street, or highway of this
   1-22  state a motor vehicle <passenger car> that is equipped with safety
   1-23  belts; and
   1-24              (2)  allows a child who is at least four years old but
    2-1  less than 15 years old to ride in the front seat of the vehicle
    2-2  <car> without requiring the child to be secured by a safety belt.
    2-3        (d)  A motor vehicle <passenger car> or a seat in a motor
    2-4  vehicle <passenger car> is deemed to be equipped with a safety belt
    2-5  if the vehicle <passenger car> is required under Section 139E of
    2-6  this Act to be equipped with safety belts.
    2-7        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
    2-8  applies only to a person convicted of an offense committed on or
    2-9  after that date.  For purposes of this section, an offense was
   2-10  committed or conduct was engaged in before the effective date of
   2-11  this Act if any element of the offense or conduct occurred before
   2-12  the effective date.  An offense committed or conduct engaged in
   2-13  before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in
   2-14  effect when the offense was committed or the conduct was engaged
   2-15  in, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-16        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-17  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-18  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-19  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-20  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.