By:  Nixon                                             S.B. No. 349
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to allowing certain trailers to travel at the posted speed
 1-2     limit.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 545.352, Transportation
 1-5     Code, is amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (b)  Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
 1-7     speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
 1-8     are lawful:
 1-9                 (1)  30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street
1-10     other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
1-11                 (2)  70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour
1-12     in nighttime on a highway numbered by this state or the United
1-13     States outside an urban district, including a farm-to-market or
1-14     ranch-to-market road, if the vehicle is a:
1-15                       (A)  passenger car;
1-16                       (B)  [,] motorcycle; or
1-17                       (C)  [,] passenger car or light truck towing a:
1-18                             (i)  trailer bearing a vessel, as defined
1-19     by  Section 31.003, Parks and Wildlife Code, that is less than 26
1-20     feet in length;
1-21                             (ii)  [, or passenger car or light truck
1-22     towing a] trailer or semitrailer designed and used primarily to
1-23     transport livestock; or
1-24                             (iii)  trailer, semitrailer, or towable
 2-1     recreational vehicle that is less than 20 feet in length[, on a
 2-2     highway numbered by this state or the United States outside an
 2-3     urban district, including a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market
 2-4     road];
 2-5                 (3)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour
 2-6     in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a
 2-7     highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway
 2-8     numbered by this state or the United States;
 2-9                 (4)  60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a
2-10     speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
2-11     section; or
2-12                 (5)  outside an urban district:
2-13                       (A)  50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
2-14     bus on a highway other than an interstate highway;
2-15                       (B)  55 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
2-16     bus on an interstate highway; or
2-17                       (C)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles
2-18     per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a light
2-19     truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or
2-20     semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, another
2-21     motor vehicle or towable recreational vehicle not described in
2-22     Subdivision (2).
2-23           SECTION 2.  The Texas Department of Transportation may not
2-24     replace a sign to reflect the change made to Subsection (b),
2-25     Section 545.352, Transportation Code, by this Act until replacement
2-26     would have occurred in the course of regular maintenance by the
 3-1     department.
 3-2           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-3           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.