1-1 By: Moncrief S.B. No. 60
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed November 17, 1998; January 26, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
1-4 February 22, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0;
1-6 February 22, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 60 By: Brown
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the wearing of safety belts by certain vehicle
1-11 passengers; providing penalties.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Subsections (b) and (h), Section 545.413,
1-14 Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-15 (b) A person commits an offense if the person:
1-16 (1) operates a passenger car that is equipped with
1-17 safety belts; and
1-18 (2) allows a child who is at least four years of age
1-19 but younger than 15 years of age to ride in [the front seat of] the
1-20 vehicle without requiring the child to be secured by a safety belt,
1-21 provided the child is occupying a seat that is equipped with a
1-22 safety belt.
1-23 (h) In this section:
1-24 (1) "Passenger[, "passenger] car" includes a pickup
1-25 truck.
1-26 (2) "Safety belt" means a lap belt and any shoulder
1-27 straps included as original equipment on or added to a vehicle
1-28 [with a manufacturer's rated carrying capacity of not more than
1-29 1,500 pounds].
1-30 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
1-31 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
1-32 Act. For the purposes of this section, an offense is committed
1-33 before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
1-34 occurs before that date.
1-35 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
1-36 Act is governed by the law in effect when the offense was
1-37 committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
1-38 purpose.
1-39 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-40 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-41 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-42 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-43 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-44 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-45 * * * * *