By Nixon                                               S.B. No. 349
         76R4016 WP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to allowing certain trailers to travel at the posted speed
 1-3     limit.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 545.352(b), Transportation Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
 1-8     speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
 1-9     are lawful:
1-10                 (1)  30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street
1-11     other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
1-12                 (2)  70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour
1-13     in nighttime on a highway numbered by this state or the United
1-14     States outside an urban district, including a farm-to-market or
1-15     ranch-to-market road, if the vehicle is a:
1-16                       (A)  passenger car;[,]
1-17                       (B)  motorcycle; or
1-18                       (C)  [,] passenger car or light truck towing a:
1-19                             (i)  trailer bearing a vessel, as defined
1-20     by  Section 31.003, Parks and Wildlife Code, that is less than 26
1-21     feet in length;
1-22                             (ii)  [, or passenger car or light truck
1-23     towing a] trailer or semitrailer designed and used primarily to
1-24     transport livestock; or
 2-1                             (iii)  trailer, semitrailer, or towable
 2-2     recreational vehicle that is less than 20 feet in length [, on a
 2-3     highway numbered by this state or the United States outside an
 2-4     urban district, including a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market
 2-5     road];
 2-6                 (3)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour
 2-7     in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a
 2-8     highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway
 2-9     numbered by this state or the United States;
2-10                 (4)  60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a
2-11     speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
2-12     section; or
2-13                 (5)  outside an urban district:
2-14                       (A)  50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
2-15     bus on a highway other than an interstate highway;
2-16                       (B)  55 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
2-17     bus on an interstate highway; or
2-18                       (C)  60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles
2-19     per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a light
2-20     truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or
2-21     semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, another
2-22     motor vehicle or towable recreational vehicle not described in
2-23     Subdivision (2).
2-24           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-25           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-26     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-27     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.