1-1     By:  Noriega (Senate Sponsor - Gallegos)              H.B. No. 1744
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 9, 1999;
 1-3     April 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Education; April 30, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable
 1-5     Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0;
 1-6     April 30, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1744                  By:  Sibley
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to additional equipment requirements for school buses.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Section 547.701(b), Transportation Code, is
1-13     amended to read as follows:
1-14           (b)  A school bus may be equipped with:
1-15                 (1)  rooftop warning lamps:
1-16                       (A)  that conform to and are placed on the bus in
1-17     accordance with specifications adopted under Section 34.002,
1-18     Education Code; and
1-19                       [(B)  that may be operated only during inclement
1-20     weather when the bus is stopping or is stopped to load or unload
1-21     students; and]
1-22                       (B)  that are operated under rules adopted by the
1-23     school district; and
1-24                 (2)  movable stop arms:
1-25                       (A)  that conform to regulations adopted under
1-26     Section 34.002, Education Code; and
1-27                       (B)  that may be operated only when the bus is
1-28     stopped to load or unload students.
1-29           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-30           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-31     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-32     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-33     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-34     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-35                                  * * * * *