By Seaman                                              H.B. No. 369
         76R2638 MI-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the regulation of speed limits on or adjacent to public
 1-3     beaches.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 61.122(a),  Natural Resources Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  The commissioners court of a county bordering on the
 1-8     Gulf of Mexico or its tidewater limits, by order, may regulate
 1-9     motor vehicle traffic and set speed limits lower than the limits
1-10     stated in Section 545.364, Transportation Code, on any beach within
1-11     the boundaries of the county and may prohibit the littering of the
1-12     beach and may define the term "littering."
1-13           SECTION 2.   Section 545.355(a), Transportation Code, is
1-14     amended to read as follows:
1-15           (a)  The commissioners court of a county, for a county road
1-16     or highway outside the limits of the right-of-way of an officially
1-17     designated or marked highway or road of the state highway system
1-18     and outside a municipality, has the same authority to increase
1-19     prima facie speed limits from the results of an engineering and
1-20     traffic investigation as the Texas Transportation Commission on an
1-21     officially designated or marked highway of the state highway
1-22     system, and may declare a lower speed limit of not less than 30
1-23     miles per hour on a county road or highway to which this section
1-24     applies, if the commissioners court determines that the prima facie
 2-1     speed limit on the road or highway is unreasonable or unsafe.  The
 2-2     commissioners court of a county bordering on the Gulf of Mexico or
 2-3     its tidewater limits may declare a lower speed limit that is less
 2-4     than 30 miles per hour for that portion of a county road or highway
 2-5     that is adjacent to a beach if the commissioners court determines
 2-6     that the prima facie speed limit on that portion of the road or
 2-7     highway is unreasonable or unsafe.  The commissioners court may not
 2-8     modify the rule established by Section 545.351(a) or establish a
 2-9     speed limit of more than 60 miles per hour.
2-10           SECTION 3.   Section 545.364, Transportation Code, is amended
2-11     to read as follows:
2-12           Sec. 545.364.  Speed Limits on Beaches.  A person may not
2-13     operate a motor vehicle on a beach at a speed of more than:
2-14                 (1)  25 miles per hour at daytime; [or]
2-15                 (2)  20 miles per hour at nighttime; or
2-16                 (3)  any lower speed limit set under Section 61.122(a),
2-17     Natural Resources Code, by the commissioners court of the county in
2-18     which the vehicle is being operated.
2-19           SECTION 4.   The importance of this legislation and the
2-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-24     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-25     passage, and it is so enacted.