Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.

      Line and page numbers may not match official copy.

      By Solomons                                      H.B. No. 343

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to allowing constables to enforce weight laws in certain

 1-3     municipalities.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 621.401, Transportation Code, is amended

 1-6     to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 621.401.  DEFINITION.  In this subchapter, "weight

 1-8     enforcement officer" means:

 1-9                 (1)  a license and weight inspector of the Department

1-10     of Public Safety;

1-11                 (2)  a highway patrol officer;

1-12                 (3)  a sheriff or sheriff's deputy; [or]

1-13                 (4)  a municipal police officer in a municipality with

1-14     a population of 100,000 or more; or

1-15                 (5)  a constable in a municipality with a population of

1-16     less than 400,000.

1-17           SECTION 2.  Section 621.408, Transportation Code, is amended

1-18     to read as follows:

1-19           Sec. 621.408.  POWERS OF WEIGHT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.  Except

1-20     for the authority granted to a port-of-entry supervisor or

1-21     inspector by Section 621.409, weight enforcement officers have

1-22     exclusive authority:

1-23                 (1)  to enforce this subchapter in any area of this

1-24     state [other than in the territory of a municipality with a

 2-1     population of more than 100,000]; and

 2-2                 (2)  to enforce all weight limitations for a vehicle on

 2-3     a state-maintained public highway.

 2-4           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 2-9     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-10     passage, and it is so enacted.