By Jones of Dallas H.B. No. 3092
75R5325 DWS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to a requirement that traffic stop when a bus other than a
1-3 school bus is loading or unloading persons under 18 years of age.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter L, Chapter 547, Transportation Code,
1-6 is amended by adding Section 547.7011 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 547.7011. ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR OTHER
1-8 BUSES. (a) A bus that provides public transportation other than a
1-9 school bus shall be equipped with a visual signal warning other
1-10 vehicle operators that the bus may be stopping to load or unload
1-11 persons under 18 years of age. The warning signal may be of a
1-12 design determined by the entity owning the bus but at a minimum
1-13 must be conspicuous and must direct other vehicle operators to
1-14 stop.
1-15 (b) An operator of a bus to which this section applies shall
1-16 activate the warning equipment if the bus stops to load or unload a
1-17 person under 18 years of age at a location that is within two miles
1-18 of a school during the two-hour period before classes begin at the
1-19 school and the two-hour period after classes end at the school.
1-20 SECTION 2. Sections 545.066(a) and (b), Transportation Code,
1-21 are amended to read as follows:
1-22 (a) An operator on a highway, when approaching from either
1-23 direction a [school] bus stopped on the highway to receive or
1-24 discharge a schoolchild:
2-1 (1) shall stop before reaching the [school] bus when
2-2 the bus is operating a visual signal as required by Section 547.701
2-3 or 547.7011; and
2-4 (2) may not proceed until:
2-5 (A) the [school] bus resumes motion;
2-6 (B) the operator is signaled by the bus driver
2-7 to proceed; or
2-8 (C) the visual signal is no longer actuated.
2-9 (b) An operator on a highway having separate roadways is not
2-10 required to stop:
2-11 (1) for a [school] bus that is on a different roadway;
2-12 or
2-13 (2) if on a controlled-access highway, for a [school]
2-14 bus that is stopped:
2-15 (A) in a loading zone that is a part of or
2-16 adjacent to the highway; and
2-17 (B) where pedestrians are not permitted to cross
2-18 the roadway.
2-19 SECTION 3. An entity that owns a bus to which Section
2-20 547.7011, Transportation Code, as added by this Act, applies shall
2-21 equip the bus as required by that section before January 1, 1998.
2-22 SECTION 4. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
2-23 section, this Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-24 (b) Section 2 of this Act takes effect January 1, 1998.
2-25 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-27 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.