By Ellis                                               S.B. No. 242
         76R3457 DRH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the lease of rights-of-way along Texas highways.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  (a)  Not later than September 1, 1999, the Texas
 1-5     Department of Transportation shall adopt rules for leasing
 1-6     rights-of-way, including highway medians and light towers for
 1-7     telecommunications purposes.
 1-8           (b)  The department may appoint a rules advisory committee
 1-9     that includes representatives of the telecommunications industry to
1-10     assist the department in drafting the rules.
1-11           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-16     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-17     passage, and it is so enacted.