By Duncan S.B. No. 411
76R1760 DRH-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the operation of a vehicle with a child in an open bed
1-3 of the vehicle or in the open bed of a trailer being towed by the
1-4 vehicle.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 545.414, Transportation Code, is amended
1-7 by amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (d) to
1-8 read as follows:
1-9 (a) A person commits an offense if the person operates an
1-10 open-bed pickup truck or an open flatbed truck or draws an open
1-11 flatbed trailer [at a speed of more than 35 miles per hour] when a
1-12 child younger than 18 [12] years of age is occupying the bed of the
1-13 truck or trailer.
1-14 (c) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that
1-15 the person was operating or towing the vehicle in a parade or in an
1-16 emergency.
1-17 (d) Compliance or noncompliance with Subsection (a) is not
1-18 admissible evidence in a civil trial.
1-19 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999. The
1-20 change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed
1-21 on or after September 1, 1999. An offense committed before
1-22 September 1, 1999, is covered by the law in effect when the offense
1-23 was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
1-24 purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
2-1 before September 1, 1999, if any element of the offense occurred
2-2 before that date.
2-3 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.