By Delisi                                              H.B. No. 338
         76R398 DWS-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the use of safety belts by children riding in vehicles.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 545.413(b), Transportation Code, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (b)  A person commits an offense if the person:
 1-7                 (1)  operates a passenger car that is equipped with
 1-8     safety belts; and
 1-9                 (2)  allows a child who is at least four years of age
1-10     but younger than 15 years of age to ride in [the front seat of] the
1-11     vehicle without requiring the child to be secured by a safety belt.
1-12           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
1-13     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
1-14     Act.  For the purposes of this section, an offense is committed
1-15     before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
1-16     occurs before that date.
1-17           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
1-18     Act is governed by the law in effect when the offense was
1-19     committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
1-20     purpose.
1-21           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-22           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.