1-1     By:  Ogden                                            S.B. No. 1704

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 14, 1997; March 24, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;

 1-4     April 15, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee

 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 12, Nays 1; April 15, 1997,

 1-6     sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1704                   By:  Nixon

 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-9                                   AN ACT

1-10     relating to prima facie speed limits for farm-to-market and

1-11     ranch-to-market roads.

1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-13           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 545.352, Transportation

1-14     Code, is amended to read as follows:

1-15           (b)  Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower

1-16     speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds

1-17     are lawful:

1-18                 (1)  30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street

1-19     other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;

1-20                 (2)  70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour

1-21     in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a

1-22     highway numbered by this state or the United States outside an

1-23     urban district, including a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road

1-24     if that road has a pavement width greater than 20 feet;

1-25                 (3)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour

1-26     in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a

1-27     highway that is outside an urban district and, with the exception

1-28     of a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road having a pavement width

1-29     of 20 feet or less, is not a highway numbered by this state or the

1-30     United States;

1-31                 (4)  60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a

1-32     speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this

1-33     section; or

1-34                 (5)  outside an urban district:

1-35                       (A)  45 miles per hour, if the vehicle is towing

1-36     a house trailer of an actual or registered gross weight heavier

1-37     than 4,500 pounds or larger than 32 feet, excluding the tow bar;

1-38                       (B)  50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school

1-39     bus; or

1-40                       (C)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles

1-41     per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a light

1-42     truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or

1-43     semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, another

1-44     motor vehicle or house trailer of an actual or registered gross

1-45     weight lighter than 4,500 pounds and a length of 32 feet or

1-46     shorter, excluding the tow bar.

1-47           SECTION 2.  Section 545.353, Transportation Code, is amended

1-48     by adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:

1-49           (h)  A prima facie speed limit under Section 545.352(b)(3)

1-50     may be increased if the commission determines from the results of

1-51     an engineering and traffic investigation that a higher prima facie

1-52     speed limit is reasonable and safe.

1-53           SECTION 3.  (a)  A change in a speed limit made by or under

1-54     this Act applies only to an offense committed on or after the

1-55     effective date of the change.  For purposes of this section, an

1-56     offense was committed before the effective date of a change in a

1-57     speed limit if any element of the offense occurred before that

1-58     date.

1-59           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of a

1-60     change in a speed limit is covered by the law in effect when the

1-61     offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect

1-62     for that purpose.

1-63           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-64     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

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

 2-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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