By Chavez                                       H.B. No. 1379

      75R3200 JJT-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance

 1-3     requirements applicable to certain commercial trucks.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 382, Health and  Safety

 1-6     Code, is amended by adding Section 382.0375 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 382.0375.  EMISSIONS INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCE

 1-8     REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL TRUCKS.  (a)  The commission by

 1-9     rule shall require commercial trucks with three or more axles to

1-10     participate in the state's motor vehicle emissions inspection and

1-11     maintenance program adopted as provided by Section 382.037(a-1) and

1-12     approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and in any

1-13     similar program.

1-14           (b)  Rules adopted under this section must:

1-15                 (1)  require each truck to obtain a vehicle emissions

1-16     inspection certificate from an inspection station operated as

1-17     provided by the state implementation plan for the inspection and

1-18     maintenance program as a condition of obtaining, in a county

1-19     included in the state's motor vehicle emissions inspection and

1-20     maintenance program, a safety inspection  certificate issued under

1-21     Chapter 548, Transportation Code, and vehicle registration; and

1-22                 (2)  specify emissions standards for the class of

1-23     trucks that are:

1-24                       (A)  at least as stringent as federal emissions

 2-1     standards for the class; and

 2-2                       (B)  designed to protect the public health and

 2-3     environmental quality in areas subject to the motor vehicle

 2-4     emissions inspection and maintenance program.

 2-5           (c)  The commission by resolution shall request the Public

 2-6     Safety Commission to include the class of trucks described by

 2-7     Subsection (a) in the motor vehicle inspection and maintenance

 2-8     program and include in the request program requirements to

 2-9     accommodate the class.  The Public Safety Commission shall adapt

2-10     the program to accommodate the class.

2-11           (d)  The commission by rule may adopt fees applicable to

2-12     trucks to which this section applies in amounts necessary to

2-13     recover administration, oversight, and enforcement costs.  The

2-14     rules shall provide procedures for remittance and collection of the

2-15     fees.

2-16           SECTION 2.  The Texas Natural Resource Conservation

2-17     Commission shall adopt rules and a resolution as necessary to

2-18     implement Section 382.0375, Health and Safety Code, as added by

2-19     this Act, as soon as practicable on or after the effective date of

2-20     this Act.  Rules adopted under that section must take effect not

2-21     later than January 1, 1998.

2-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-25     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-26     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-27     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 3-1     passage, and it is so enacted.