1-1  By:  Brimer (Senate Sponsor - Harris)                 H.B. No. 3208
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House May 15, 1995;
    1-3  May 18, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on State
    1-4  Affairs; May 25, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
    1-5  Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 25, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to requiring safety chains for certain vehicles towing
    1-9  trailers.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Subsections (b)-(f), Section 106A, Uniform Act
   1-12  Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil
   1-13  Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
   1-14        (b)  A person may not operate a passenger car or light truck
   1-15  <vehicle> while towing a trailer, semitrailer, or house trailer on
   1-16  a public highway unless safety chains of a type approved by the
   1-17  department are attached in a manner approved by the department from
   1-18  the trailer, semitrailer, or house trailer to the towing vehicle.
   1-19        (c)  The department shall adopt rules setting forth the type
   1-20  of safety chains required to be used based on the weight of the
   1-21  trailer, semitrailer, or house trailer being towed.  The rules
   1-22  shall:
   1-23              (1)  require safety chains to be strong enough to
   1-24  maintain connection between the trailer, semitrailer, or house
   1-25  trailer and the towing vehicle; and
   1-26              (2)  indicate the proper method of attachment of safety
   1-27  chains between the trailer, semitrailer, or <the> house trailer and
   1-28  the towing vehicle.
   1-29        (d)  The requirements of Subsection (b) of this section do
   1-30  not apply to a passenger car or light truck <vehicle> towing a
   1-31  trailer or semitrailer used for agricultural purposes.
   1-32        (e)  This section shall not apply to any trailer,
   1-33  semitrailer, or house trailer which is operated in compliance with
   1-34  the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.
   1-35        (f)  The rules adopted by the Department of Public Safety
   1-36  under Subsection (c) of this section shall not apply to trailers,
   1-37  semitrailers, or house trailers which are equipped with safety
   1-38  chains installed by the original manufacturer before the effective
   1-39  date of the rules.
   1-40        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   1-41        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-42  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-43  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-44  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-45  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   1-46                               * * * * *