By Jones of Lubbock                              H.B. No. 326

      75R2299 JD-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the operation of a vehicle with a child in an open bed

 1-3     of the vehicle or in the open bed of a trailer being towed by the

 1-4     vehicle.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Sections 545.414(a) and (c), Transportation Code,

 1-7     are amended to read as follows:

 1-8           (a)  A person commits an offense if the person operates an

 1-9     open-bed pickup truck or an open flatbed truck or draws an open

1-10     flatbed trailer [at a speed of more than 35 miles per hour] when a

1-11     child younger than 18 [12] years of age is occupying the bed of the

1-12     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           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.  The

1-17     change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed

1-18     on or after September 1, 1997.  An offense committed before the

1-19     effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the

1-20     offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect

1-21     for that purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense was

1-22     committed before September 1, 1997, if any element of the offense

1-23     occurred before that date.

1-24           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.