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 * * * * *