By:  Nelson                                  S.B. No. 1428

         97S0827/1                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the enforcement of vehicle weight laws in certain

 1-2     municipalities.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 621.401, Transportation Code, is amended

 1-5     to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 621.401.  DEFINITION.  In this subchapter, "weight

 1-7     enforcement officer" means:

 1-8                 (1)  a license and weight inspector of the Department

 1-9     of Public Safety;

1-10                 (2)  a highway patrol officer;

1-11                 (3)  a sheriff or sheriff's deputy; [or]

1-12                 (4)  a municipal police officer; or [in a municipality

1-13     with a population of 100,000 or more]

1-14                 (5)  a constable in a municipality with a population of

1-15     less than 400,000.

1-16           SECTION 2.  Section 621.408, Transportation Code, is amended

1-17     to read as follows:

1-18           Sec. 621.408.  POWERS OF WEIGHT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.  Except

1-19     for the authority granted to a port-of-entry supervisor or

1-20     inspector by Section 621.409, weight enforcement officers have

1-21     exclusive authority:

1-22                 (1)  to enforce this subchapter in any area of this

1-23     state [other than in the territory of a municipality with a

 2-1     population of more than 100,000]; and

 2-2                 (2)  to enforce all weight limitations for a vehicle on

 2-3     a state-maintained public highway.

 2-4           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 2-9     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-10     passage, and it is so enacted.