1-1     By:  Craddick, Keel (Senate Sponsor - Bivins)         H.B. No. 1075
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 1999;
 1-3     April 27, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on State
 1-4     Affairs; May 7, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 7, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to raising the speed limit for vehicles towing certain
 1-9     trailers.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 545.352(b), Transportation Code, is
1-12     amended to read as follows:
1-13           (b)  Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
1-14     speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
1-15     are lawful:
1-16                 (1)  30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street
1-17     other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
1-18                 (2)  70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour
1-19     in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car, motorcycle,
1-20     passenger car or light truck towing a trailer bearing a vessel, as
1-21     defined by  Section 31.003, Parks and Wildlife Code, that is less
1-22     than 26 feet in length, passenger car or light truck towing a
1-23     trailer or semitrailer used primarily to transport a motorcycle, or
1-24     passenger car or light truck towing a trailer or semitrailer
1-25     designed and used primarily to transport dogs or livestock, on a
1-26     highway numbered by this state or the United States outside an
1-27     urban district, including a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road;
1-28                 (3)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour
1-29     in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a
1-30     highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway
1-31     numbered by this state or the United States;
1-32                 (4)  60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a
1-33     speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
1-34     section; or
1-35                 (5)  outside an urban district:
1-36                       (A)  50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
1-37     bus on a highway other than an interstate highway;
1-38                       (B)  55 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
1-39     bus on an interstate  highway; or
1-40                       (C)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles
1-41     per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a light
1-42     truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or
1-43     semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer other than a trailer
1-44     described by Subdivision (2), semitrailer, another motor vehicle or
1-45     towable recreational vehicle.
1-46           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-47     The change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense
1-48     committed on or after the effective date of this Act.  For purposes
1-49     of this section, an offense is committed before the effective date
1-50     of this Act if any element of the offense occurs before that date.
1-51           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
1-52     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
1-53     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-54           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-55     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-56     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-57     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-58     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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