1-1     By:  Duncan                                            S.B. No. 411
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 5, 1999; February 8, 1999,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
 1-4     March 22, 1999, reported favorably, as amended, by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 1; March 22, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6     COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1                                By:  Brown
 1-7     Amend S.B. No. 411 by striking the current language in Section
 1-8     545.414(c) of the Transportation Code on page 1 at lines 32-34 and
 1-9     replace it with the following:
1-10           (c)  It is a defense to prosecution under this section that
1-11     the person was operating:
1-12                 (1)  or towing the vehicle in a parade or in an
1-13     emergency;
1-14                 (2)  the vehicle to transport farm workers from one
1-15     field to another field on a farm-to-market road, a ranch-to-market
1-16     road, or a county road outside of incorported city limits; or
1-17                 (3)  the vehicle on a beach.
1-18                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-19                                   AN ACT
1-20     relating to the offense of operating a vehicle with a child in an
1-21     open bed of the vehicle or in the open bed of a trailer being towed
1-22     by the vehicle.
1-23           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-24           SECTION 1.  Section 545.414, Transportation Code, is amended
1-25     by amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (d) to
1-26     read as follows:
1-27           (a)  A person commits an offense if the person operates an
1-28     open-bed pickup truck or an open flatbed truck or draws an open
1-29     flatbed trailer [at a speed of more than 35 miles per hour] when a
1-30     child younger than 18 [12] years of age is occupying the bed of the
1-31     truck or trailer.
1-32           (c)  It is a defense to prosecution under this section that
1-33     the person was operating or towing the vehicle in a parade or in an
1-34     emergency.
1-35           (d)  Compliance or noncompliance with Subsection (a) is not
1-36     admissible evidence in a civil trial.
1-37           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.  The
1-38     change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed
1-39     on or after September 1, 1999.  An offense committed before
1-40     September 1, 1999, is covered by the law in effect when the offense
1-41     was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
1-42     purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
1-43     before September 1, 1999, if any element of the offense occurred
1-44     before that date.
1-45           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-46     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-47     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-48     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-49     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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