By: Duncan, Bivins S.B. No. 836
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to certain buses used to transport students to
1-2 school-related activities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 541.201, Transportation Code, is amended
1-5 by adding a new Subdivision (15), renumbering existing Subdivision
1-6 (15) as Subdivision (16) and amending that subdivision, and
1-7 renumbering existing Subdivisions (16) through (22) as Subdivisions
1-8 (17) through (23) to read as follows:
1-9 (15) "School activity bus" means a bus designed to
1-10 accommodate more than 15 passengers, including the operator, that
1-11 is owned, operated, rented, or leased by a school district, county
1-12 school, open-enrollment charter school, regional education service
1-13 center, or shared services arrangement and that is used to
1-14 transport public school students on a school-related activity trip,
1-15 other than on routes to and from school. The term does not include
1-16 a chartered bus, a bus operated by a mass transit authority, or a
1-17 school bus.
1-18 (16) "School bus" means a motor vehicle that was
1-19 manufactured in compliance with the federal motor vehicle safety
1-20 standards for school buses in effect on the date of manufacture and
1-21 that is used [bus designed] to transport pre-primary, primary, or
1-22 secondary [more than 15 passengers, including the operator, and
1-23 used for purposes that include regularly transporting] students on
1-24 a route to or from school or on a school-related activity trip
2-1 other than on routes to and from school [or school-related events].
2-2 The term does not include a school-chartered bus or a bus operated
2-3 by a mass transit authority.
2-4 (17) [(16)] "Semitrailer" means a vehicle with or
2-5 without motive power, other than a pole trailer:
2-6 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
2-7 to transport persons or property; and
2-8 (B) constructed so that part of the vehicle's
2-9 weight and load rests on or is carried by another vehicle.
2-10 (18) [(17)] "Special mobile equipment" means a vehicle
2-11 that is not designed or used primarily to transport persons or
2-12 property and that is only incidentally operated on a highway. The
2-13 term:
2-14 (A) includes ditchdigging apparatus, well boring
2-15 apparatus, and road construction and maintenance machinery,
2-16 including an asphalt spreader, bituminous mixer, bucket loader,
2-17 tractor other than a truck tractor, ditcher, levelling grader,
2-18 finishing machine, motor grader, road roller, scarifier,
2-19 earth-moving carryall and scraper, power shovel or dragline, or
2-20 self-propelled crane and earth-moving equipment; and
2-21 (B) excludes a vehicle that is designed to
2-22 transport persons or property and that has machinery attached,
2-23 including a house trailer, dump truck, truck-mounted transit mixer,
2-24 crane, and shovel.
2-25 (19) [(18)] "Towable recreational vehicle" means a
2-26 nonmotorized vehicle that:
3-1 (A) is designed:
3-2 (i) to be towable by a motor vehicle; and
3-3 (ii) for temporary human habitation for
3-4 uses including recreational camping or seasonal use;
3-5 (B) is permanently built on a single chassis;
3-6 (C) may contain one or more life-support
3-7 systems; and
3-8 (D) may be used permanently or temporarily for
3-9 advertising, selling, displaying, or promoting merchandise or
3-10 services, but is not used for transporting property for hire or for
3-11 distribution by a private carrier.
3-12 (20) [(19)] "Trailer" means a vehicle, other than a
3-13 pole trailer, with or without motive power:
3-14 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
3-15 to transport persons or property; and
3-16 (B) constructed so that no part of the vehicle's
3-17 weight and load rests on the motor vehicle.
3-18 (21) [(20)] "Truck" means a motor vehicle designed,
3-19 used, or maintained primarily to transport property.
3-20 (22) [(21)] "Truck tractor" means a motor vehicle
3-21 designed and used primarily to draw another vehicle but not
3-22 constructed to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the
3-23 other vehicle and its load.
3-24 (23) [(22)] "Vehicle" means a device that can be used
3-25 to transport or draw persons or property on a highway. The term
3-26 does not include:
4-1 (A) a device exclusively used on stationary
4-2 rails or tracks; or
4-3 (B) manufactured housing as that term is defined
4-4 by the Texas Manufactured Housing Standards Act (Article 5221f,
4-5 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
4-6 SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 545.352, Transportation
4-7 Code, is amended to read as follows:
4-8 (c) The speed limits for a bus or other vehicle engaged in
4-9 the business of transporting passengers for compensation or hire,
4-10 for a commercial vehicle used as a highway post office vehicle for
4-11 highway post office service in the transportation of United States
4-12 mail, [and] for a light truck, and for a school activity bus are
4-13 the same as required for a passenger car at the same time and
4-14 location.
4-15 SECTION 3. Section 521.022, Transportation Code, is amended
4-16 by adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:
4-17 (i) For purposes of this section, "school bus" includes a
4-18 school activity bus as defined by Section 541.201.
4-19 SECTION 4. Section 548.001, Transportation Code, as amended
4-20 by Chapters 1061 and 1069, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular
4-21 Session, 1997, is amended to read as follows:
4-22 Sec. 548.001. Definitions. In this chapter:
4-23 (1) "Commercial motor vehicle" means a self-propelled
4-24 or towed vehicle, other than a farm vehicle with a gross weight,
4-25 registered weight, or gross weight rating of less than 48,000
4-26 pounds, that is used on a public highway to transport passengers or
5-1 cargo if:
5-2 (A) the vehicle, including a school activity bus
5-3 as defined in Section 541.201, or combination of vehicles has a
5-4 gross weight, registered weight, or gross weight rating of more
5-5 than 26,000 pounds;
5-6 (B) the vehicle, including a school activity bus
5-7 as defined in Section 541.201, is designed to transport more than
5-8 15 passengers, including the driver; or
5-9 (C) the vehicle is used to transport hazardous
5-10 materials in a quantity requiring placarding by a regulation issued
5-11 under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. Section
5-12 1801 et seq.).
5-13 (2) "Commission" means the Public Safety Commission.
5-14 (3) "Conservation commission" means the Texas Natural
5-15 Resource Conservation Commission.
5-16 (4) "Department" means the Department of Public
5-17 Safety.
5-18 (5) "Farm vehicle" has the meaning assigned by the
5-19 federal motor carrier safety regulations.
5-20 (6) "Federal motor carrier safety regulation" has the
5-21 meaning assigned by Section 644.001.
5-22 (7) "Inspection station" means a facility certified to
5-23 conduct inspections of vehicles under this chapter.
5-24 (8) "Inspector" means an individual certified to
5-25 conduct inspections of vehicles under this chapter.
5-26 (9) "Nonattainment area" means an area so designated
6-1 within the meaning of Section 107(d) of the Clean Air Act (42
6-2 U.S.C. Section 7407).
6-3 SECTION 5. Subsection (b), Section 548.201, Transportation
6-4 Code, is amended to read as follows:
6-5 (b) A program under this section also applies to any:
6-6 (1) vehicle or combination of vehicles with a gross
6-7 weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds that is[:]
6-8 [(1)] operated in interstate commerce[;] and
6-9 [(2)] registered in this state; and
6-10 (2) any school activity bus, as defined in Section
6-11 541.201, that has a gross weight, registered weight, or gross
6-12 weight rating of more than 26,000 pounds, or is designed to
6-13 transport more than 15 passengers, including the driver.
6-14 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
6-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-19 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-20 passage, and it is so enacted.