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. 2-4 * * * * *