HBA-MSH S.B. 886 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 886 By: Ogden Transportation 5/10/2001 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, laws regarding certain size and weight restrictions in the Transportation Code are outdated, with some provisions dating back to the 1930s. Senate Bill 886 updates various provisions for the Transportation Code to reflect current practices. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS Senate Bill 886 amends the Transportation Code to prohibit a vehicle or combination of vehicles from operating over or on a public highway or at a port-of-entry between Texas and the United Mexican States if the vehicle or combination has a single axle weight heavier than 20,000 pounds rather than 16,000 pounds on high pressure tires or 20,000 pounds on low pressure tires, or tires that carry a weight heavier than the weight specified and marked on the sidewall of the tire, unless the vehicle is being operated under the terms of a special permit. The bill prohibits the overall gross weight on a group of two or more consecutive axles from being heavier than 80,000 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances, regardless of tire ratings, axle spacing, and number of axles (Sec. 621.101). The bill authorizes the Texas Transportation Commission (commission) to set the maximum single axle weight or tandem axle weight of a vehicle, or the maximum single axle weight, tandem axle weight of a combination of vehicles and loads that may be moved over a state highway or a farm or ranch road if the commission finds that heavier maximum weight would rapidly deteriorate or destroy the road or a bridge or culvert along the road. The bill authorizes vehicles operating under certain permits for oversize or overweight vehicles to operate under the conditions authorized by the permit over a road for which the commission or the commissioners court of a county has set a maximum weight (Sec. 621.102 and 621.301). The bill excludes the length of the towing device from the length the limit for semitrailers and trailers in combinations (Sec. 621.204). Prior to assessment of a penalty for weight that exceeds the maximum allowable axle weights, the bill authorizes the owner or operator of a vehicle to shift the load to reduce or eliminate such excess axle weight penalties as long as no part of the shipment is removed (Sec. 621.402). The bill removes the condition on the exemption from unloading requirements for an overweight vehicle loaded with livestock that its destination must be in this state (Sec. 621.405). The bill provides that a person commits a misdemeanor if the person operates a vehicle or combination of vehicles in violation of the size and weight restrictions on vehicles used to transport ready-mix concrete, milk, recyclable materials, cotton seed modules, or solid waster (Sec. 621.506). The bill also provides that a person commits a misdemeanor if the person violates a provision related to vehicle size and weight for which an offense is not specified (Sec. 621.507). The bill provides that it is an affirmative defense to prosecution of the offense of operating a vehicle with a single axle weight or tandem axle weight heavier than the axle weight authorized by law that if at the time of the offense the vehicle had a single axle weight or tandem axle weight that was not heavier than the axle weight authorized by law plus 12 percent, was loaded with timber, pulp wood, wood chips, or cotton, livestock, or other agricultural products that are in their natural state and being transported from the place of production to the place of first marketing or first processing, was not being operated on a portion of the national system of interstate and defense highways, and was not being operated on a road or bridge for which the weight limit is less than the weight specified under provisions relating to the maximum weight of a vehicle or combination (Sec. 621.508). The bill authorizes a vehicle or combination of vehicles transporting raw wood products that has an outer bridge of 39 feet or more to have a maximum gross weight of 80,000 pounds (Sec. 622.0435). The bill provides that provisions relating to vehicles transporting timber or timber products do not authorize the operation on the national system of interstate and defense highways in this state of a vehicle of a size or weight greater than those permitted under federal vehicle weight limitations (Sec 622.045). The bill repeals provisions relating to maximum size and weight of containers, penalties for vehicles transporting ready mixed concrete or milk, the weight of lumber carried by a truck, penalties for certain vehicles transporting recyclable materials, exemptions from weight limits for vehicles used to transport fixed load oil field service equipment, and penalties for vehicles transporting solid waste (SECTION 30). EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.