By Chavez                                              H.B. No. 345
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the wearing of safety belts by certain vehicle
 1-3     operators and passengers.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Sections 545.413(a), (b), and (h), Transportation
 1-6     Code, are amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  A person commits an offense if the person:
 1-8                 (1)  is under 18 years of age;
 1-9                 (2)  is riding in [the front seat of] a passenger car
1-10     while the vehicle is being operated;
1-11                 (3)  is occupying a seat that is equipped with a safety
1-12     belt; and
1-13                 (4)  is not secured by a safety belt.
1-14           (b)  A person commits an offense if the person:
1-15                 (1)  operates a passenger car that is equipped with
1-16     safety belts; and
1-17                 (2)  allows a child who is at least three years of but
1-18     younger than 15 years of age to ride in [the front seat of] the
1-19     vehicle without requiring the child to be secured by a safety belt.
1-20           (h)  In this section:
1-21                 (1)  "Passenger[, "passenger] car" includes a pickup
 2-1     truck and a sports utility vehicle.
 2-2                 (2)  "Safety belt" means a lap belt and any shoulder
 2-3     straps included as original equipment on or added to a vehicle
 2-4     [with a manufacturer's rated carrying capacity of not more than
 2-5     1,500 pounds].
 2-6           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
 2-7     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
 2-8     Act.  For the purposes of this section, an offense is committed
 2-9     before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
2-10     occurs before that date.
2-11           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-12     Act is governed by the law in effect when the offense was
2-13     committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
2-14     purpose.
2-15           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-16           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.