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.