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 * * * * *