By Jones of Lubbock, Swinford, Chisum                 H.B. No. 3570

         75R7724 JD-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the length limitation for a vehicle or vehicle

 1-3     combination transporting a combine.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 622.902, Transportation Code, is amended

 1-6     to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 622.902.  LENGTH EXCEPTIONS.  The length limitations

 1-8     provided by Sections 621.203 to 621.205 do not apply to:

 1-9                 (1)  machinery used exclusively for drilling water

1-10     wells, including machinery that is itself a unit or that is a unit

1-11     mounted on a conventional vehicle or chassis;

1-12                 (2)  a vehicle owned or operated by a public, private,

1-13     or volunteer fire department;

1-14                 (3)  a vehicle or combination of vehicles operated

1-15     exclusively in the territory of a municipality or to a combination

1-16     of vehicles operated by a municipality in a suburb adjoining the

1-17     municipality in which the municipality has been using the equipment

1-18     or similar equipment in connection with an established service to

1-19     the suburb;

1-20                 (4)  a truck-tractor, truck-tractor combination, or

1-21     truck-trailer combination exclusively transporting machinery,

1-22     materials, and equipment incidental to or used in the construction,

1-23     operation, and maintenance of facilities that are used for the

1-24     discovery, production, and processing of natural gas and petroleum,

 2-1     and that machinery, materials, and equipment when used in the

 2-2     construction and maintenance of pipelines;

 2-3                 (5)  a drive-away saddlemount vehicle transporter

 2-4     combination or a drive-away saddlemount with fullmount vehicle

 2-5     transporter combination, as defined by 23 C.F.R. Part 658 or its

 2-6     successor, if:

 2-7                       (A)  the overall length of the combination is not

 2-8     longer than 75 feet; and

 2-9                       (B)  the combination does not have more than

2-10     three saddlemounted vehicles if the combination does not include

2-11     more than one fullmount vehicle; [or]

2-12                 (6)  the combination of a tow truck and another vehicle

2-13     or vehicle combination if:

2-14                       (A)  the other vehicle or vehicle combination

2-15     cannot be normally or safely driven or was abandoned on a highway;

2-16     and

2-17                       (B)  the tow truck is towing the other vehicle or

2-18     vehicle combination directly to the nearest authorized place of

2-19     repair, terminal, or destination of unloading; or

2-20                 (7)  a vehicle or combination of vehicles used to

2-21     transport  a combine that is used in farm custom harvesting

2-22     operations on a farm if the overall length of the vehicle or

2-23     combination is not longer than 75 feet.

2-24           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 3-2     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 3-3     passage, and it is so enacted.