By:  Duncan                                            S.B. No. 411
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the offense of operating a vehicle with a child in an
 1-2     open bed of the vehicle or in the open bed of a trailer being towed
 1-3     by the vehicle.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 545.414, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-6     by amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (d) to
 1-7     read as follows:
 1-8           (a)  A person commits an offense if the person operates an
 1-9     open-bed pickup truck or an open flatbed truck or draws an open
1-10     flatbed trailer [at a speed of more than 35 miles per hour] when a
1-11     child younger than 18 [12] years of age is occupying the bed of the
1-12     truck or trailer.
1-13           (c)  It is a defense to prosecution under this section that
1-14     the person was operating:
1-15                 (1)  or towing the vehicle in a parade or in an
1-16     emergency;
1-17                 (2)  the vehicle to transport farm workers from one
1-18     field to another field on a farm-to-market road, a ranch-to-market
1-19     road, or a county road outside of incorporated city limits;
1-20                 (3)  the vehicle on a beach; or
1-21                 (4)  a vehicle that is the only vehicle owned or
1-22     operated in a household.  In this subsection, "household" has the
1-23     meaning assigned by Section 71.005, Family Code.
1-24           (d)  Compliance or noncompliance with Subsection (a) is not
 2-1     admissible evidence in a civil trial.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.  The
 2-3     change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed
 2-4     on or after September 1, 1999.  An offense committed before
 2-5     September 1, 1999, is covered by the law in effect when the offense
 2-6     was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
 2-7     purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
 2-8     before September 1, 1999, if any element of the offense occurred
 2-9     before that date.
2-10           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.