H.B. No. 3208
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to requiring safety chains for certain vehicles towing
    1-3  trailers.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subsections (b)-(f), Section 106A, 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        (b)  A person may not operate a passenger car or light truck
    1-9  <vehicle> while towing a trailer, semitrailer, or house trailer on
   1-10  a public highway unless safety chains of a type approved by the
   1-11  department are attached in a manner approved by the department from
   1-12  the trailer, semitrailer, or house trailer to the towing vehicle.
   1-13        (c)  The department shall adopt rules setting forth the type
   1-14  of safety chains required to be used based on the weight of the
   1-15  trailer, semitrailer, or house trailer being towed.  The rules
   1-16  shall:
   1-17              (1)  require safety chains to be strong enough to
   1-18  maintain connection between the trailer, semitrailer, or house
   1-19  trailer and the towing vehicle; and
   1-20              (2)  indicate the proper method of attachment of safety
   1-21  chains between the trailer, semitrailer, or <the> house trailer and
   1-22  the towing vehicle.
   1-23        (d)  The requirements of Subsection (b) of this section do
   1-24  not apply to a passenger car or light truck <vehicle> towing a
    2-1  trailer or semitrailer used for agricultural purposes.
    2-2        (e)  This section shall not apply to any trailer,
    2-3  semitrailer, or house trailer which is operated in compliance with
    2-4  the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.
    2-5        (f)  The rules adopted by the Department of Public Safety
    2-6  under Subsection (c) of this section shall not apply to trailers,
    2-7  semitrailers, or house trailers which are equipped with safety
    2-8  chains installed by the original manufacturer before the effective
    2-9  date of the rules.
   2-10        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-12  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-13  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-14  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-15  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.