By: Duncan S.B. No. 836
99S0577/1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the speed limits for certain buses used to transport
1-2 students to school 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 activity trip as
1-15 described by Section 34.003, Education Code. The term does not
1-16 include a chartered bus, a bus operated by a mass transit
1-17 authority, or a 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 or school activity trip as described by Section 34.003,
2-1 Education Code [to and from school or school-related events]. The
2-2 term does not include a vehicle [school-chartered bus or a bus]
2-3 operated by a person under contract with a legal guardian of a
2-4 student for transportation if the vehicle is not painted school bus
2-5 yellow and marked "school bus." [mass transit authority.]
2-6 (17) [(16)] "Semitrailer" means a vehicle with or
2-7 without motive power, other than a pole trailer:
2-8 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
2-9 to transport persons or property; and
2-10 (B) constructed so that part of the vehicle's
2-11 weight and load rests on or is carried by another vehicle.
2-12 (18) [(17)] "Special mobile equipment" means a vehicle
2-13 that is not designed or used primarily to transport persons or
2-14 property and that is only incidentally operated on a highway. The
2-15 term:
2-16 (A) includes ditchdigging apparatus, well boring
2-17 apparatus, and road construction and maintenance machinery,
2-18 including an asphalt spreader, bituminous mixer, bucket loader,
2-19 tractor other than a truck tractor, ditcher, levelling grader,
2-20 finishing machine, motor grader, road roller, scarifier,
2-21 earth-moving carryall and scraper, power shovel or dragline, or
2-22 self-propelled crane and earth-moving equipment; and
2-23 (B) excludes a vehicle that is designed to
2-24 transport persons or property and that has machinery attached,
2-25 including a house trailer, dump truck, truck-mounted transit mixer,
2-26 crane, and shovel.
3-1 (19) [(18)] "Towable recreational vehicle" means a
3-2 nonmotorized vehicle that:
3-3 (A) is designed:
3-4 (i) to be towable by a motor vehicle; and
3-5 (ii) for temporary human habitation for
3-6 uses including recreational camping or seasonal use;
3-7 (B) is permanently built on a single chassis;
3-8 (C) may contain one or more life-support
3-9 systems; and
3-10 (D) may be used permanently or temporarily for
3-11 advertising, selling, displaying, or promoting merchandise or
3-12 services, but is not used for transporting property for hire or for
3-13 distribution by a private carrier.
3-14 (20) [(19)] "Trailer" means a vehicle, other than a
3-15 pole trailer, with or without motive power:
3-16 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
3-17 to transport persons or property; and
3-18 (B) constructed so that no part of the vehicle's
3-19 weight and load rests on the motor vehicle.
3-20 (21) [(20)] "Truck" means a motor vehicle designed,
3-21 used, or maintained primarily to transport property.
3-22 (22) [(21)] "Truck tractor" means a motor vehicle
3-23 designed and used primarily to draw another vehicle but not
3-24 constructed to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the
3-25 other vehicle and its load.
3-26 (23) [(22)] "Vehicle" means a device that can be used
4-1 to transport or draw persons or property on a highway. The term
4-2 does not include:
4-3 (A) a device exclusively used on stationary
4-4 rails or tracks; or
4-5 (B) manufactured housing as that term is defined
4-6 by the Texas Manufactured Housing Standards Act (Article 5221f,
4-7 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
4-8 SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 545.352, Transportation
4-9 Code, is amended to read as follows:
4-10 (c) The speed limits for a bus or other vehicle engaged in
4-11 the business of transporting passengers for compensation or hire,
4-12 for a commercial vehicle used as a highway post office vehicle for
4-13 highway post office service in the transportation of United States
4-14 mail, [and] for a light truck, and for a school activity bus are
4-15 the same as required for a passenger car at the same time and
4-16 location.
4-17 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-22 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-23 passage, and it is so enacted.