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.