1-1  By:  Sibley                                            S.B. No. 888
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed March 2, 1995; March 6, 1995, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
    1-4  March 29, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 13,
    1-5  Nays 0; March 29, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the amount of time certain signs may be erected near a
    1-9  rural road before an election.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 12, Article 2, Chapter
   1-12  221, Acts of the 69th Legislature, Regular Session, 1985 (Article
   1-13  6674v-3, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
   1-14  follows:
   1-15        (a)  The following are exempt from this article:
   1-16              (1)  a sign the erection and maintenance of which is
   1-17  allowed under the highway beautification provisions contained in
   1-18  Article IV, Section 1, Chapter 741, Acts of the 67th Legislature,
   1-19  Regular Session, 1981 (Article 4477-9a, Vernon's Texas Civil
   1-20  Statutes);
   1-21              (2)  a sign in existence before the effective date of
   1-22  this article;
   1-23              (3)  a sign that has as its purpose the protection of
   1-24  life and property;
   1-25              (4)  a directional or other official sign authorized by
   1-26  law, including a sign pertaining to natural wonders or scenic or
   1-27  historic attractions;
   1-28              (5)  a sign or marker giving information about the
   1-29  location of underground electric transmission lines, telegraph or
   1-30  telephone properties and facilities, pipelines, public sewers, or
   1-31  waterlines;
   1-32              (6)  a sign erected by an agency of the state or a
   1-33  political subdivision of the state; and
   1-34              (7)  a sign erected solely for and relating to a public
   1-35  election, but only if:
   1-36                    (A)  the sign is on private property;
   1-37                    (B)  the sign is erected no sooner than the 90th
   1-38  <60th> day before the election and is removed no later than the
   1-39  10th day after the election;
   1-40                    (C)  the sign is constructed of lightweight
   1-41  material; and
   1-42                    (D)  the surface area of the sign is not larger
   1-43  than 50 square feet.
   1-44        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-45  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-46  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-47  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-48  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-49  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-50  passage, and it is so enacted.
   1-51                               * * * * *