1-1     By:  Talton (Senate Sponsor - Gallegos)               H.B. No. 3366
 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 lighting equipment on tow trucks.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 547.305(d), Transportation Code, is
1-11     amended to read as follows:
1-12           (d)  A vehicle may be equipped with alternately flashing
1-13     lighting equipment described by Section 547.701 or 547.702 only if
1-14     the vehicle is:
1-15                 (1)  a school bus;
1-16                 (2)  an authorized emergency vehicle;
1-17                 (3)  a church bus that has the words "church bus"
1-18     printed on the front and rear of the bus so as to be clearly
1-19     discernable to other vehicle operators; [or]
1-20                 (4)  a tow truck while under the direction of a law
1-21     enforcement officer at the scene of an accident or while hooking up
1-22     to a disabled vehicle on a roadway; or
1-23                 (5)  a tow truck with a mounted light bar which has
1-24     turn signals and stop lamps in addition to those required by
1-25     Sections 547.322, 547.323, and 547.324, Transportation Code.
1-26           SECTION 2.  The changes made in this Act take effect July 1,
1-27     1999, and apply to a cause of action that accrues on or after the
1-28     effective date.  A cause of action that accrued before the
1-29     effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect before
1-30     that date, and the former law is continued in effect for this
1-31     purpose.
1-32           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-33     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-34     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-35     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-36     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-37     and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
1-38     terms, and it is so enacted.
1-39                                  * * * * *