By:  Carona                                            S.B. No. 844
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the enforcement of weight limits for motor vehicles by
 1-2     weight enforcement officers.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 621.401, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-5     to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 621.401.  Definition.  In this subchapter, "weight
 1-7     enforcement officer" means:
 1-8                 (1)  a license and weight inspector of the Department
 1-9     of Public Safety;
1-10                 (2)  a highway patrol officer;
1-11                 (3)  a sheriff or sheriff's deputy;
1-12                 (4)  a municipal police officer in a municipality with
1-13     a population of 50,000 [100,000] or more; or
1-14                 (5)  a police officer certified under Section 644.101
1-15     [6, Article 6675d, Revised Statutes].
1-16           SECTION 2.  Section 621.408, Transportation Code, is amended
1-17     to read as follows:
1-18           Sec. 621.408.  Powers of Weight Enforcement Officers.  Except
1-19     for the authority granted to a port-of-entry supervisor or
1-20     inspector by Section 621.409, weight enforcement officers have
1-21     exclusive authority:
1-22                 (1)  to enforce this subchapter in any area of this
1-23     state other than in the territory of a municipality with a
1-24     population of more than 50,000 [100,000]; and
 2-1                 (2)  to enforce all weight limitations for a vehicle on
 2-2     a state-maintained public highway.
 2-3           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-4           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.