By:  Ogden                                            S.B. No. 1704

         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.

         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.

                                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.  Section 545.352(b), Transportation Code, is

 1-5     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 improved shoulders and a pavement width greater

1-16     than 20 feet;

1-17                 (3)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour

1-18     in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a

1-19     highway that is outside an urban district and, with the exception

1-20     of a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road having no improved

1-21     shoulders and a pavement width 20 feet or less, is not a highway

 2-1     numbered by this state or the United States;

 2-2                 (4)  60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a

 2-3     speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this

 2-4     section; or

 2-5                 (5)  outside an urban district:

 2-6                       (A)  45 miles per hour, if the vehicle is towing

 2-7     a house trailer of an actual or registered gross weight heavier

 2-8     than 4,500 pounds or larger than 32 feet, excluding the tow bar;

 2-9                       (B)  50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school

2-10     bus; or

2-11                       (C)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles

2-12     per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a light

2-13     truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or

2-14     semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, another

2-15     motor vehicle or house trailer of an actual or registered gross

2-16     weight lighter than 4,500 pounds and a length of 32 feet or

2-17     shorter, excluding the tow bar.

2-18           SECTION 2.  (a)  A change in a speed limit made by or under

2-19     this Act applies only to an offense committed on or after the

2-20     effective date of the change.  For purposes of this section, an

2-21     offense was committed before the effective date of a change in a

2-22     speed limit if any element of the offense occurred before that

2-23     date.

2-24           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of a

2-25     change in a speed limit is covered by the law in effect when the

 3-1     offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect

 3-2     for that purpose.

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

 3-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.