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.