By Alexander                                          H.B. No. 1830
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the use of certain lighting equipment on motor
    1-3  vehicles.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Sections 124(c) and (d), Uniform Act Regulating
    1-6  Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes),
    1-7  are amended to read as follows:
    1-8        (c)  An <A police vehicle when used as an> authorized
    1-9  emergency vehicle may <but need not> be equipped with one or more
   1-10  rotating or alternately flashing red or blue lights <specified
   1-11  herein>.
   1-12        (d)  The rotating or alternately flashing red lighting
   1-13  described in Subsections (b) and (c) of this section shall not be
   1-14  used on any vehicle other than a school bus, a church bus, or an
   1-15  authorized emergency vehicle.  A<, or a> tow truck while under the
   1-16  direction of a law enforcement officer at the scene of an accident
   1-17  or while hooking up to a disabled vehicle in the roadway may use
   1-18  rotating or alternately flashing amber or white lighting.  Rotating
   1-19  or alternately flashing blue lighting may not be used on a vehicle
   1-20  that is not an authorized emergency vehicle.
   1-21        SECTION 2.  Section 131(c), Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
   1-22  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
   1-23  to read as follows:
    2-1        (c)  Except as authorized or required in Sections 105, 122,
    2-2  124, 125 and this section, a person may not operate a motor vehicle
    2-3  that displays <equipped with> a beacon, flashing, rotating, or
    2-4  alternating light that is red, white, or blue in color.  This
    2-5  subsection does not prohibit the use of running lights, headlights,
    2-6  taillights, backup lights, or turn signal lights, in a manner
    2-7  authorized by law.
    2-8        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    2-9        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-10  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-11  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-12  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-13  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   2-14                       COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
   2-15        Amend H.B. 1830 as follows:
   2-16        (1)  On page 1, line 10, strike "or blue" and substitute ",
   2-17  blue, amber or white".
   2-18        (2)  On page 1, line 18 strike "or white".
   2-19                                                              Siebert