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 * * * * *