By:  Shapleigh                                         S.B. No. 749
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the enforcement of weight limits for vehicles in a
 1-2     port-of-entry between Texas and Mexico.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 621.101, Transportation
 1-5     Code, is amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  A vehicle or combination of vehicles may not be operated
 1-7     over or on a public highway outside the territory of a
 1-8     municipality, [or] over or on a state-maintained public highway
 1-9     inside the territory of a municipality, or at a port-of-entry
1-10     between Texas and the United Mexican States if the vehicle or
1-11     combination has:
1-12                 (1)  an axle that carries a load heavier than:
1-13                       (A)  16,000 pounds on high-pressure tires; or
1-14                       (B)  20,000 pounds on low-pressure tires,
1-15     including all enforcement tolerances;
1-16                 (2)  a tandem axle weight heavier than 34,000 pounds,
1-17     including all enforcement tolerances;
1-18                 (3)  an overall gross weight on a group of two or more
1-19     consecutive axles heavier than the weight computed using the
1-20     following formula and rounding the result to the nearest 500
1-21     pounds:
1-22           W = 500((LN/(N - 1)) + 12N + 36)
1-23           where:
1-24           "W" is maximum overall gross weight on the group;
 2-1           "L" is distance in feet between the axles of the group that
 2-2     are the farthest apart; and
 2-3           "N" is number of axles in the group;
 2-4                 (4)  a weight heavier than:
 2-5                       (A)  600 pounds for each inch of tire width
 2-6     concentrated on the surface of the highway on a wheel using
 2-7     high-pressure tires; or
 2-8                       (B)  650 pounds for each inch of tire width
 2-9     concentrated on the surface of the highway on a wheel using
2-10     low-pressure tires; or
2-11                 (5)  a wheel that carries a load heavier than:
2-12                       (A)  8,000 pounds on high-pressure tires; or
2-13                       (B)  10,000 pounds on low-pressure tires.
2-14           SECTION 2.  Section 621.408, Transportation Code, is amended
2-15     to read as follows:
2-16           Sec. 621.408.  POWERS OF WEIGHT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.  Except
2-17     for the authority granted to a port-of-entry supervisor or
2-18     inspector by Section 621.409, weight enforcement officers have
2-19     exclusive authority:
2-20                 (1)  to enforce this subchapter in any area of this
2-21     state other than in the territory of a municipality with a
2-22     population of more than 100,000; and
2-23                 (2)  to enforce all weight limitations for a vehicle on
2-24     a state-maintained public highway or at a port-of-entry between
2-25     Texas and the United Mexican States.
2-26           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-1           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.