By: Luna, et al. S.B. No. 445
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the offense of operation of a vehicle with a child in
1-2 an open bed of the vehicle or in the open bed of a trailer being
1-3 towed by the vehicle.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (c), Section 107D, Uniform
1-6 Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas
1-7 Civil Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
1-8 (a) A person commits an offense if the person<, at a speed
1-9 that exceeds 35 miles per hour,> operates an open bed pickup truck
1-10 or an open flatbed truck or tows an open flatbed trailer on a
1-11 public street or highway when a child younger than 18 <12> years of
1-12 age is occupying the bed of the truck or trailer.
1-13 (c) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that
1-14 the person was operating or towing the vehicle in a parade or in an
1-15 emergency.
1-16 (d) Compliance or noncompliance with Subsection (a) of this
1-17 section is not admissible evidence in a civil trial.
1-18 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995. The
1-19 change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed
1-20 on or after September 1, 1995. An offense committed before the
1-21 effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
1-22 offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect
1-23 for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was
1-24 committed before September 1, 1995, if any element of the offense
2-1 occurred before that date.
2-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.