1-1     By:  Carona                                            S.B. No. 844
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 3, 1999; March 4, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
 1-4     Relations; March 29, 1999, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 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 motor vehicles by
 1-9     weight enforcement officers.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 621.401, Transportation Code, is amended
1-12     to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 621.401.  Definition.  In this subchapter, "weight
1-14     enforcement officer" means:
1-15                 (1)  a license and weight inspector of the Department
1-16     of Public Safety;
1-17                 (2)  a highway patrol officer;
1-18                 (3)  a sheriff or sheriff's deputy;
1-19                 (4)  a municipal police officer in a municipality with
1-20     a population of 50,000 [100,000] or more; or
1-21                 (5)  a police officer certified under Section 644.101
1-22     [6, Article 6675d, Revised Statutes].
1-23           SECTION 2.  Section 621.408, Transportation Code, is amended
1-24     to read as follows:
1-25           Sec. 621.408.  Powers of Weight Enforcement Officers.  Except
1-26     for the authority granted to a port-of-entry supervisor or
1-27     inspector by Section 621.409, weight enforcement officers have
1-28     exclusive authority:
1-29                 (1)  to enforce this subchapter in any area of this
1-30     state other than in the territory of a municipality with a
1-31     population of more than 50,000 [100,000]; and
1-32                 (2)  to enforce all weight limitations for a vehicle on
1-33     a state-maintained public highway.
1-34           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-35           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-36     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-37     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-38     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-39     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-40                                  * * * * *