By Mowery H.B. No. 390
75R282 JD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to prima facie speed limits for vehicles on highways.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 545.352(b), Transportation Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 (b) Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
1-7 speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
1-8 are lawful:
1-9 (1) 30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street
1-10 other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
1-11 (2) 70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour
1-12 in nighttime if the vehicle is [a passenger car or motorcycle] on a
1-13 highway numbered by this state or the United States outside an
1-14 urban district, including a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road;
1-15 (3) 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour
1-16 in nighttime if the vehicle is [a passenger car or motorcycle] on a
1-17 highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway
1-18 numbered by this state or the United States;
1-19 (4) 60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a
1-20 speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
1-21 section; or
1-22 (5) outside an urban district:
1-23 (A) 45 miles per hour, if the vehicle is towing
1-24 a house trailer of an actual or registered gross weight heavier
2-1 than 4,500 pounds or larger than 32 feet, excluding the tow bar;
2-2 (B) 50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
2-3 bus on a highway other than an interstate highway; or
2-4 (C) 55 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
2-5 bus on an interstate highway [60 miles per hour in daytime and 55
2-6 miles per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a
2-7 light truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or
2-8 semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, another
2-9 motor vehicle or house trailer of an actual or registered gross
2-10 weight lighter than 4,500 pounds and a length of 32 feet or
2-11 shorter, excluding the tow bar].
2-12 SECTION 2. In addition to the substantive changes in law
2-13 made by this Act, this Act conforms Section 545.352(b),
2-14 Transportation Code, to Section 1, Chapter 295, Acts of the 74th
2-15 Legislature, Regular Session, 1995.
2-16 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997. The
2-17 changes in law made by this Act relating to the operation of a
2-18 vehicle other than a school bus apply only to the operation of the
2-19 vehicle on or after September 1, 1997. The operation of a vehicle
2-20 other than a school bus before September 1, 1997, is covered by the
2-21 law in effect when the vehicle was operated, and the former law is
2-22 continued in effect for that purpose.
2-23 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.