1-1     By:  Jones of Lubbock, Swinford, Chisum               H.B. No. 3570

 1-2          (Senate Sponsor - Duncan)

 1-3           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 8, 1997;

 1-4     May 9, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on State

 1-5     Affairs; May 18, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:

 1-6     Yeas 13, Nays 0; May 18, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-7                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-8                                   AN ACT

 1-9     relating to the length limitation for a vehicle or vehicle

1-10     combination transporting a combine.

1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-12           SECTION 1.  Section 622.902, Transportation Code, is amended

1-13     to read as follows:

1-14           Sec. 622.902.  LENGTH EXCEPTIONS.  The length limitations

1-15     provided by Sections 621.203 to 621.205 do not apply to:

1-16                 (1)  machinery used exclusively for drilling water

1-17     wells, including machinery that is itself a unit or that is a unit

1-18     mounted on a conventional vehicle or chassis;

1-19                 (2)  a vehicle owned or operated by a public, private,

1-20     or volunteer fire department;

1-21                 (3)  a vehicle or combination of vehicles operated

1-22     exclusively in the territory of a municipality or to a combination

1-23     of vehicles operated by a municipality in a suburb adjoining the

1-24     municipality in which the municipality has been using the equipment

1-25     or similar equipment in connection with an established service to

1-26     the suburb;

1-27                 (4)  a truck-tractor, truck-tractor combination, or

1-28     truck-trailer combination exclusively transporting machinery,

1-29     materials, and equipment incidental to or used in the construction,

1-30     operation, and maintenance of facilities that are used for the

1-31     discovery, production, and processing of natural gas and petroleum,

1-32     and that machinery, materials, and equipment when used in the

1-33     construction and maintenance of pipelines;

1-34                 (5)  a drive-away saddlemount vehicle transporter

1-35     combination or a drive-away saddlemount with fullmount vehicle

1-36     transporter combination, as defined by 23 C.F.R. Part 658 or its

1-37     successor, if:

1-38                       (A)  the overall length of the combination is not

1-39     longer than 75 feet; and

1-40                       (B)  the combination does not have more than

1-41     three saddlemounted vehicles if the combination does not include

1-42     more than one fullmount vehicle; [or]

1-43                 (6)  the combination of a tow truck and another vehicle

1-44     or vehicle combination if:

1-45                       (A)  the other vehicle or vehicle combination

1-46     cannot be normally or safely driven or was abandoned on a highway;

1-47     and

1-48                       (B)  the tow truck is towing the other vehicle or

1-49     vehicle combination directly to the nearest authorized place of

1-50     repair, terminal, or destination of unloading; or

1-51                 (7)  a vehicle or combination of vehicles used to

1-52     transport  a combine that is used in farm custom harvesting

1-53     operations on a farm if the overall length of the vehicle or

1-54     combination is not longer than 75 feet.

1-55           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-56     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-57     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-58     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-59     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-60     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-61     passage, and it is so enacted.

1-62                                  * * * * *