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. 1-59 * * * * *