By Alexander                                          H.B. No. 2463
         76R7562 JD-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the authority of a regional tollway authority to enter
 1-3     into certain agreements with the Texas Transportation Commission
 1-4     and to alter speed limits on a turnpike project.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
 1-7     is amended by adding Section 201.113 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 201.113.  AGREEMENTS WITH REGIONAL TOLLWAY AUTHORITIES.
 1-9     (a)  Notwithstanding Sections 221.003 and 224.031, the commission
1-10     may enter into an agreement with a regional tollway authority
1-11     governed under Chapter 366 for the improvement by the tollway
1-12     authority of a portion of the state highway system.
1-13           (b)  In this section, "improvement" means construction,
1-14     reconstruction, maintenance, and the making of a necessary plan or
1-15     survey before beginning construction, reconstruction, or
1-16     maintenance and includes a project or activity appurtenant to a
1-17     state highway, including drainage facilities, surveying, traffic
1-18     counts, driveways, landscaping, signs, lights, or guardrails.
1-19           SECTION 2.  Subchapter I, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
1-20     is amended by adding Section 201.707 to read as follows:
1-21           Sec. 201.707.  AGREEMENTS FOR SERVICES WITH REGIONAL TOLLWAY
1-22     AUTHORITIES.  Notwithstanding Section 201.703(c), the department
1-23     may enter into an agreement with a regional tollway authority
1-24     governed by Chapter 366 under which the department, for fair and
 2-1     reasonable compensation, provides services, including courtesy
 2-2     patrols, on a turnpike project of the tollway authority.
 2-3           SECTION 3.  The heading to Section 545.354, Transportation
 2-4     Code, is amended to read as follows:
 2-5           Sec. 545.354.  AUTHORITY [OF TEXAS TURNPIKE AUTHORITY] TO
 2-6     ALTER SPEED LIMITS ON TURNPIKE PROJECTS.
 2-7           SECTION 4.  Section 545.354, Transportation Code, is amended
 2-8     by adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:
 2-9           (h)  A regional tollway authority governed by Chapter 366 may
2-10     alter a prima facie speed limit on a turnpike it maintains in the
2-11     same manner as the Texas Turnpike Authority under this section.
2-12           SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-13           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-14     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-15     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-16     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-17     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.