1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to certain buses used to transport students to
1-3 school-related activities.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 541.201, Transportation Code, is amended
1-6 by adding a new Subdivision (15), renumbering existing Subdivision
1-7 (15) as Subdivision (16) and amending that subdivision, and
1-8 renumbering existing Subdivisions (16) through (22) as Subdivisions
1-9 (17) through (23) to read as follows:
1-10 (15) "School activity bus" means a bus designed to
1-11 accommodate more than 15 passengers, including the operator, that
1-12 is owned, operated, rented, or leased by a school district, county
1-13 school, open-enrollment charter school, regional education service
1-14 center, or shared services arrangement and that is used to
1-15 transport public school students on a school-related activity trip,
1-16 other than on routes to and from school. The term does not include
1-17 a chartered bus, a bus operated by a mass transit authority, or a
1-18 school bus.
1-19 (16) "School bus" means a motor vehicle that was
1-20 manufactured in compliance with the federal motor vehicle safety
1-21 standards for school buses in effect on the date of manufacture and
1-22 that is used [bus designed] to transport pre-primary, primary, or
1-23 secondary [more than 15 passengers, including the operator, and
1-24 used for purposes that include regularly transporting] students on
2-1 a route to or from school or on a school-related activity trip
2-2 other than on routes to and from school [or school-related events].
2-3 The term does not include a school-chartered bus or a bus operated
2-4 by a mass transit authority.
2-5 (17) [(16)] "Semitrailer" means a vehicle with or
2-6 without motive power, other than a pole trailer:
2-7 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
2-8 to transport persons or property; and
2-9 (B) constructed so that part of the vehicle's
2-10 weight and load rests on or is carried by another vehicle.
2-11 (18) [(17)] "Special mobile equipment" means a vehicle
2-12 that is not designed or used primarily to transport persons or
2-13 property and that is only incidentally operated on a highway. The
2-14 term:
2-15 (A) includes ditchdigging apparatus, well boring
2-16 apparatus, and road construction and maintenance machinery,
2-17 including an asphalt spreader, bituminous mixer, bucket loader,
2-18 tractor other than a truck tractor, ditcher, levelling grader,
2-19 finishing machine, motor grader, road roller, scarifier,
2-20 earth-moving carryall and scraper, power shovel or dragline, or
2-21 self-propelled crane and earth-moving equipment; and
2-22 (B) excludes a vehicle that is designed to
2-23 transport persons or property and that has machinery attached,
2-24 including a house trailer, dump truck, truck-mounted transit mixer,
2-25 crane, and shovel.
2-26 (19) [(18)] "Towable recreational vehicle" means a
2-27 nonmotorized vehicle that:
3-1 (A) is designed:
3-2 (i) to be towable by a motor vehicle; and
3-3 (ii) for temporary human habitation for
3-4 uses including recreational camping or seasonal use;
3-5 (B) is permanently built on a single chassis;
3-6 (C) may contain one or more life-support
3-7 systems; and
3-8 (D) may be used permanently or temporarily for
3-9 advertising, selling, displaying, or promoting merchandise or
3-10 services, but is not used for transporting property for hire or for
3-11 distribution by a private carrier.
3-12 (20) [(19)] "Trailer" means a vehicle, other than a
3-13 pole trailer, with or without motive power:
3-14 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
3-15 to transport persons or property; and
3-16 (B) constructed so that no part of the vehicle's
3-17 weight and load rests on the motor vehicle.
3-18 (21) [(20)] "Truck" means a motor vehicle designed,
3-19 used, or maintained primarily to transport property.
3-20 (22) [(21)] "Truck tractor" means a motor vehicle
3-21 designed and used primarily to draw another vehicle but not
3-22 constructed to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the
3-23 other vehicle and its load.
3-24 (23) [(22)] "Vehicle" means a device that can be used
3-25 to transport or draw persons or property on a highway. The term
3-26 does not include:
3-27 (A) a device exclusively used on stationary
4-1 rails or tracks; or
4-2 (B) manufactured housing as that term is defined
4-3 by the Texas Manufactured Housing Standards Act (Article 5221f,
4-4 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
4-5 SECTION 2. Subsections (b) and (c), Section 545.352,
4-6 Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:
4-7 (b) Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
4-8 speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
4-9 are lawful:
4-10 (1) 30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street
4-11 other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
4-12 (2) 70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour
4-13 in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car, motorcycle,
4-14 passenger car or light truck towing a trailer bearing a vessel, as
4-15 defined by Section 31.003, Parks and Wildlife Code, that is less
4-16 than 26 feet in length, or passenger car or light truck towing a
4-17 trailer or semitrailer designed and used primarily to transport
4-18 livestock, on a highway numbered by this state or the United States
4-19 outside an urban district, including a farm-to-market or
4-20 ranch-to-market road;
4-21 (3) 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour
4-22 in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a
4-23 highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway
4-24 numbered by this state or the United States;
4-25 (4) 60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a
4-26 speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
4-27 section; or
5-1 (5) outside an urban district:
5-2 (A) 60 [50] miles per hour if the vehicle is a
5-3 school bus that has passed a commercial motor vehicle inspection
5-4 under Section 548.201 and is on a highway numbered by the United
5-5 States or this state, including a farm-to-market road [on a highway
5-6 other than an interstate highway];
5-7 (B) 50 [55] miles per hour if the vehicle is a
5-8 school bus that:
5-9 (i) has not passed a commercial motor
5-10 vehicle inspection under Section 548.201; or
5-11 (ii) is traveling on a highway not
5-12 numbered by the United States or this state [on an interstate
5-13 highway]; or
5-14 (C) 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles
5-15 per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a light
5-16 truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or
5-17 semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, another
5-18 motor vehicle or towable recreational vehicle.
5-19 (c) The speed limits for a bus or other vehicle engaged in
5-20 the business of transporting passengers for compensation or hire,
5-21 for a commercial vehicle used as a highway post office vehicle for
5-22 highway post office service in the transportation of United States
5-23 mail, [and] for a light truck, and for a school activity bus are
5-24 the same as required for a passenger car at the same time and
5-25 location.
5-26 SECTION 3. Section 521.022, Transportation Code, is amended
5-27 by adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:
6-1 (i) For purposes of this section, "school bus" includes a
6-2 school activity bus as defined by Section 541.201.
6-3 SECTION 4. Section 548.001, Transportation Code, as amended
6-4 by Chapters 1061 and 1069, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular
6-5 Session, 1997, is amended to read as follows:
6-6 Sec. 548.001. Definitions. In this chapter:
6-7 (1) "Commercial motor vehicle" means a self-propelled
6-8 or towed vehicle, other than a farm vehicle with a gross weight,
6-9 registered weight, or gross weight rating of less than 48,000
6-10 pounds, that is used on a public highway to transport passengers or
6-11 cargo if:
6-12 (A) the vehicle, including a school activity bus
6-13 as defined in Section 541.201, or combination of vehicles has a
6-14 gross weight, registered weight, or gross weight rating of more
6-15 than 26,000 pounds;
6-16 (B) the vehicle, including a school activity bus
6-17 as defined in Section 541.201, is designed to transport more than
6-18 15 passengers, including the driver; or
6-19 (C) the vehicle is used to transport hazardous
6-20 materials in a quantity requiring placarding by a regulation issued
6-21 under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. Section
6-22 1801 et seq.).
6-23 (2) "Commission" means the Public Safety Commission.
6-24 (3) "Conservation commission" means the Texas Natural
6-25 Resource Conservation Commission.
6-26 (4) "Department" means the Department of Public
6-27 Safety.
7-1 (5) "Farm vehicle" has the meaning assigned by the
7-2 federal motor carrier safety regulations.
7-3 (6) "Federal motor carrier safety regulation" has the
7-4 meaning assigned by Section 644.001.
7-5 (7) "Inspection station" means a facility certified to
7-6 conduct inspections of vehicles under this chapter.
7-7 (8) "Inspector" means an individual certified to
7-8 conduct inspections of vehicles under this chapter.
7-9 (9) "Nonattainment area" means an area so designated
7-10 within the meaning of Section 107(d) of the Clean Air Act (42
7-11 U.S.C. Section 7407).
7-12 SECTION 5. Subsection (b), Section 548.201, Transportation
7-13 Code, is amended to read as follows:
7-14 (b) A program under this section also applies to any:
7-15 (1) vehicle or combination of vehicles with a gross
7-16 weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds that is[:]
7-17 [(1)] operated in interstate commerce[;] and
7-18 [(2)] registered in this state;
7-19 (2) school activity bus, as defined in Section
7-20 541.201, that has a gross weight, registered weight, or gross
7-21 weight rating of more than 26,000 pounds, or is designed to
7-22 transport more than 15 passengers, including the driver; and
7-23 (3) school bus that will operate at a speed authorized
7-24 by Section 545.352(b)(5)(A).
7-25 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
7-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-27 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
8-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
8-3 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
8-4 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 385 was passed by the House on April
23, 1999, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 385 on May 21, 1999, by the following
vote: Yeas 141, Nays 0, 1 present, not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 385 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 19, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 28, Nays
1.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor