By:  Ogden                                            S.B. No. 1704

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to prima facie speed limits for farm-to-market and

 1-2     ranch-to-market roads.

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

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 545.352, Transportation

 1-5     Code, is amended to read as follows:

 1-6           (b)  Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower

 1-7     speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds

 1-8     are lawful:

 1-9                 (1)  30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street

1-10     other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;

1-11                 (2)  70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour

1-12     in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a

1-13     highway numbered by this state or the United States outside an

1-14     urban district, including a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road

1-15     if that road has a pavement width greater than 20 feet;

1-16                 (3)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour

1-17     in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a

1-18     highway that is:

1-19                       (A)  outside an urban district and not a highway

1-20     numbered by this state or the United States; or

1-21                       (B)  a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road

1-22     that has a pavement width of 20 feet or less;

1-23                 (4)  60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a

 2-1     speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this

 2-2     section; or

 2-3                 (5)  outside an urban district:

 2-4                       (A)  45 miles per hour, if the vehicle is towing

 2-5     a house trailer of an actual or registered gross weight heavier

 2-6     than 4,500 pounds or larger than 32 feet, excluding the tow bar;

 2-7                       (B)  50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school

 2-8     bus; or

 2-9                       (C)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles

2-10     per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a light

2-11     truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or

2-12     semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, another

2-13     motor vehicle or house trailer of an actual or registered gross

2-14     weight lighter than 4,500 pounds and a length of 32 feet or

2-15     shorter, excluding the tow bar.

2-16           SECTION 2.  Section 545.353, Transportation Code, is amended

2-17     by adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:

2-18           (h)  A prima facie speed limit under Section 545.352(b)(3)

2-19     may be increased if the commission determines from the results of

2-20     an engineering and traffic investigation that a higher prima facie

2-21     speed limit is reasonable and safe.

2-22           SECTION 3.  (a)  A change in a speed limit made by or under

2-23     this Act applies only to an offense committed on or after the

2-24     effective date of the change.  For purposes of this section, an

2-25     offense was committed before the effective date of a change in a

 3-1     speed limit if any element of the offense occurred before that

 3-2     date.

 3-3           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of a

 3-4     change in a speed limit is covered by the law in effect when the

 3-5     offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect

 3-6     for that purpose.

 3-7           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 3-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.