By Craddick                                           H.B. No. 1075
         76R4053 WP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to raising the speed limit for vehicles towing certain
 1-3     trailers.
 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, passenger car or light truck towing a
1-17     trailer or semitrailer used primarily to transport a motorcycle, or
1-18     passenger car or light truck towing a trailer or semitrailer
1-19     designed and used primarily to transport livestock, on a highway
1-20     numbered by this state or the United States outside an urban
1-21     district, including a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road;
1-22                 (3)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour
1-23     in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a
1-24     highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway
 2-1     numbered by this state or the United States;
 2-2                 (4)  60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a
 2-3     speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
 2-4     section; or
 2-5                 (5)  outside an urban district:
 2-6                       (A)  50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
 2-7     bus on a highway other than an interstate highway;
 2-8                       (B)  55 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
 2-9     bus on an interstate  highway; or
2-10                       (C)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles
2-11     per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a light
2-12     truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or
2-13     semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer other than a trailer
2-14     described by Subdivision (2), semitrailer, another motor vehicle or
2-15     towable recreational vehicle.
2-16           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-17     The change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense
2-18     committed on or after the effective date of this Act.  For purposes
2-19     of this section, an offense is committed before the effective date
2-20     of this Act if any element of the offense occurs before that date.
2-21           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-22     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-23     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-24           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.