1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to prima facie speed limits for vehicles on highways and
1-3 beaches.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 545.352(b), Transportation Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (b) Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
1-8 speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
1-9 are lawful:
1-10 (1) 30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street
1-11 other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
1-12 (2) 70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour
1-13 in nighttime if the vehicle is [a passenger car, motorcycle,
1-14 passenger car or light truck towing a trailer bearing a vessel, as
1-15 defined by Section 31.003, Parks and Wildlife Code, that is less
1-16 than 26 feet in length, or passenger car or light truck towing a
1-17 trailer or semitrailer designed and used primarily to transport
1-18 livestock,] on a highway numbered by this state or the United
1-19 States outside an urban district, including a farm-to-market or
1-20 ranch-to-market road, except as provided by Subdivision (4);
1-21 (3) 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour
1-22 in nighttime if the vehicle is [a passenger car or motorcycle] on a
1-23 highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway
1-24 numbered by this state or the United States;
2-1 (4) [60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a
2-2 speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
2-3 section; or]
2-4 [(5)] outside an urban district:
2-5 (A) 50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
2-6 bus on a highway other than an interstate highway;
2-7 (B) 55 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
2-8 bus on an interstate highway; or
2-9 (C) 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles
2-10 per hour in nighttime if:
2-11 (i) the vehicle is a truck, other than a
2-12 light truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or
2-13 semitrailer; and
2-14 (ii) the vehicle is on a farm-to-market or
2-15 ranch-to-market road;
2-16 (5) on a beach, 15 miles per hour; or
2-17 (6) on a county road adjacent to a public beach, 15
2-18 miles per hour, if declared by the commissioners court of the
2-19 county[, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, another motor
2-20 vehicle or towable recreational vehicle].
2-21 SECTION 2. Section 545.3535, Transportation Code, is amended
2-22 to read as follows:
2-23 Sec. 545.3535. AUTHORITY OF TEXAS TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION
2-24 TO ALTER SPEED LIMITS ON CERTAIN ROADS. (a) The commissioners
2-25 court of a county by resolution may request the Texas
2-26 Transportation Commission to determine and declare a reasonable and
2-27 safe prima facie speed limit that is lower than a speed limit
3-1 established by Section 545.352 on any part of a farm-to-market or a
3-2 ranch-to-market road of the highway system that is located in that
3-3 county and is without improved shoulders [has a pavement width of
3-4 20 feet or less].
3-5 (b) [If the commission receives a request under Subsection
3-6 (a), the commission shall publish in a newspaper of general
3-7 circulation in the affected county notice of:]
3-8 [(1) the request of the commissioners court; and]
3-9 [(2) the time and place of a hearing in the county on
3-10 the request.]
3-11 [(c)] The commission shall give consideration to local
3-12 public opinion and may [elect to] determine and declare a lower
3-13 speed limit on any part of the road without an engineering and
3-14 traffic investigation, but the commission must use sound and
3-15 generally accepted traffic engineering practices in determining and
3-16 declaring the lower speed limit.
3-17 (c) [(d)] The commission by rule shall establish standards
3-18 for determining lower speed limits within a set range.
3-19 SECTION 3. Section 545.364, Transportation Code, is
3-20 repealed.
3-21 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-22 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 676 was passed by the House on April
23, 1999, by a non-record vote; that the House refused to concur in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 676 on May 17, 1999, and requested
the appointment of a conference committee to consider the
differences between the two houses; and that the House adopted the
conference committee report on H.B. No. 676 on May 27, 1999, by a
non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 676 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 13, 1999, by a viva-voce vote; at the request of
the House, the Senate appointed a conference committee to consider
the differences between the two houses; and that the Senate adopted
the conference committee report on H.B. No. 676 on May 29, 1999, by
a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor