SRC-JXG S.B. 1108 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center S.B. 1108 76R6148 DRH-DBy: Shapleigh Border Affairs - Special 4/7/1999 As Filed DIGEST Currently, Texas law requires half of the fees from overweight vehicle fines imposed and collected by county courts-at-law, justices of the peace, and municipal courts to be remitted to the state comptroller and deposited in the general revenue fund. The Department of Public Safety and local police officers in certain cities are responsible for enforcing truck weight limitations and issuing citations to operators of overweight vehicles. According to the Texas Department of Transportation officials, one 80,000-pound legal loaded truck causes road damage equivalent to 9,600 cars. The overweight truck problem is particularly acute on highways, bridges, and city streets along the Texas-Mexico border, which handles 85 percent of all U.S.-Mexico truck traffic. S.B. 1108 would authorize local governments to collect overweight vehicle fines and to keep all the proceeds from those fines, if the offense occurred within 20 miles of an international border. PURPOSE As proposed, S.B. 1108 authorizes local governments to collect overweight vehicle fines, and to keep all the proceeds from those fines, if the offense occurred within 20 miles of an international border. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY This bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 621.506(g), Transportation Code, to require a governmental entity that collects a fine for vehicles having a gross weight more than 5,000 pounds heavier than the vehicle's allowable gross weight to send an amount equal to 50 percent of the fine to the comptroller, unless the offense occurred within 20 miles of an international border, in which event the entire amount of the fine shall be deposited in the municipal treasury, if the fine was imposed by a municipal court; or the county treasury, if the fine was imposed by a justice court. SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.