By Talton                                             H.B. No. 3366
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to lighting equipment on tow trucks.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 547.305, Transportation Code is amended
 1-5     to read as follows:
 1-6           Section 547.305.  RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF LIGHTS
 1-7           (a)  A motor vehicle lamp or illuminating device, other than
 1-8     a headlamp, spotlamp, auxiliary lamp, turn signal lamp, or
 1-9     emergency vehicle or school bus warning lamp, that projects a beam
1-10     with an intensity brighter than 300 candlepower shall be directed
1-11     so that no part of the high-intensity portion of the beam strikes
1-12     the roadway at a distance of more than 75 feet from the vehicle.
1-13           (b)  Except as expressly authorized by law, a person may not
1-14     operate or move equipment or a vehicle, other than a police
1-15     vehicle, with a lamp or device that displays a red light visible
1-16     from directly in front of the center of the equipment or vehicle.
1-17           (c)  A person may not operate a motor vehicle equipped with a
1-18     red, white, or blue beacon, flashing, or alternating light unless
1-19     the equipment is:
1-20                 (1)  used as specifically authorized by this chapter;
1-21     or
1-22                 (2)  a running lamp, headlamp, taillamp, backup lamp,
1-23     or turn signal that is used as authorized by law.
1-24           (d)  A vehicle may be equipped with alternately flashing
 2-1     lighting equipment described by Section 547.701 or 547.702 only if
 2-2     the vehicle is:
 2-3                 (1)  a school bus;
 2-4                 (2)  an authorized emergency vehicle;
 2-5                 (3)  a church bus that has the words "church bus"
 2-6     printed on the front and rear of the bus so as to be clearly
 2-7     discernable to other vehicle operators.[or];
 2-8                 (4)  a tow truck while under the direction of a law
 2-9     enforcement officer at the scene of an accident or while hooking up
2-10     to a disabled vehicle on a roadway; or
2-11                 (5)  a tow truck with a mounted light bar which has
2-12     turn signals and stop lamps in addition to those required by
2-13     Sections 547.322, 547.323, and 547.324, Transportation Code.
2-14           (e)  A person may not operate highway maintenance or service
2-15     equipment, including snow-removal equipment, that is not equipped
2-16     with lamps or that does not display lighted lamps as required by
2-17     the standards and specifications adopted by the Texas Department of
2-18     Transportation.
2-19           (f)  In this section "tow truck" means a motor vehicle or
2-20     mechanical device that is adapted or used to tow, winch, or move a
2-21     disabled vehicle.
2-22           Section 2.  The changes made in this Act takes effect July 1,
2-23     1999, and apply to a cause of action that accrues on or after the
2-24     effective date.  A cause of action that accrued before the
2-25     effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect before
2-26     that date, and the former law is continued in effect for this
2-27     purpose.
 3-1           Section 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-6     and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
 3-7     terms, and it is so enacted.