1-1     By:  Shapleigh                                         S.B. No. 749
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 26, 1999; March 2, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Special Committee on Border Affairs;
 1-4     March 29 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5,
 1-5     Nays 0; March 29, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the enforcement of weight limits for vehicles in a
 1-9     port-of-entry between Texas and Mexico.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 621.101, Transportation
1-12     Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-13           (a)  A vehicle or combination of vehicles may not be operated
1-14     over or on a public highway outside the territory of a
1-15     municipality, [or] over or on a state-maintained public highway
1-16     inside the territory of a municipality, or at a port-of-entry
1-17     between Texas and the United Mexican States if the vehicle or
1-18     combination has:
1-19                 (1)  an axle that carries a load heavier than:
1-20                       (A)  16,000 pounds on high-pressure tires; or
1-21                       (B)  20,000 pounds on low-pressure tires,
1-22     including all enforcement tolerances;
1-23                 (2)  a tandem axle weight heavier than 34,000 pounds,
1-24     including all enforcement tolerances;
1-25                 (3)  an overall gross weight on a group of two or more
1-26     consecutive axles heavier than the weight computed using the
1-27     following formula and rounding the result to the nearest 500
1-28     pounds:
1-29           W = 500((LN/(N - 1)) + 12N + 36)
1-30           where:
1-31           "W" is maximum overall gross weight on the group;
1-32           "L" is distance in feet between the axles of the group that
1-33     are the farthest apart; and
1-34           "N" is number of axles in the group;
1-35                 (4)  a weight heavier than:
1-36                       (A)  600 pounds for each inch of tire width
1-37     concentrated on the surface of the highway on a wheel using
1-38     high-pressure tires; or
1-39                       (B)  650 pounds for each inch of tire width
1-40     concentrated on the surface of the highway on a wheel using
1-41     low-pressure tires; or
1-42                 (5)  a wheel that carries a load heavier than:
1-43                       (A)  8,000 pounds on high-pressure tires; or
1-44                       (B)  10,000 pounds on low-pressure tires.
1-45           SECTION 2.  Section 621.408, Transportation Code, is amended
1-46     to read as follows:
1-47           Sec. 621.408.  POWERS OF WEIGHT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.  Except
1-48     for the authority granted to a port-of-entry supervisor or
1-49     inspector by Section 621.409, weight enforcement officers have
1-50     exclusive authority:
1-51                 (1)  to enforce this subchapter in any area of this
1-52     state other than in the territory of a municipality with a
1-53     population of more than 100,000; and
1-54                 (2)  to enforce all weight limitations for a vehicle on
1-55     a state-maintained public highway or at a port-of-entry between
1-56     Texas and the United Mexican States.
1-57           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-58           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-59     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-60     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-61     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-62     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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