By: Ogden S.B. No. 1705 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 the safe operation of vehicles on highways. 1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-3 SECTION 1. Section 545.352(b), Transportation Code, is 1-4 amended to read as follows: 1-5 (b) Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower 1-6 speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds 1-7 are lawful: 1-8 (1) 30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street 1-9 other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley; 1-10 (2) 70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour 1-11 in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a 1-12 highway numbered by this state or the United States outside an 1-13 urban district, including a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road 1-14 if the highway has a paved shoulder; 1-15 (3) 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour 1-16 in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a 1-17 highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway 1-18 numbered by this state or the United States or on a highway 1-19 numbered by this state or the United States if the highway does not 1-20 have a paved shoulder; 1-21 (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. Sec. 545.353, Transportation Code, is amended by 2-17 adding subsection (h) to read as follows: 2-18 (h) A prima facie speed limit under Sec. 545.352(b)(3) may 2-19 be increased if the Texas Transportation Commission determines from 2-20 the results of an engineering and traffic investigation that a 2-21 higher prima facie speed limit is reasonable and safe. 2-22 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 3-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.