By: Raymond, Krusee H.B. No. 3554
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to motor vehicle inspection facilities near the border of
this state and Mexico.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 201.613, Transportation Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 201.613. [ONE-STOP] BORDER INSPECTION FACILITIES
[STATIONS]. (a) The department shall erect and maintain border
[choose a location for an] inspection facilities [station] along a
major highway at or near a border crossing from Mexico in the Pharr
[Brownsville], [in] Laredo, and [in] El Paso districts for the
inspection of motor vehicles for compliance with federal and state
commercial motor vehicle regulations [so that all federal, state,
and municipal agencies that regulate the passage of persons or
vehicles across the border at that border crossing may be located in
one place].
(b) If a facility that serves a bridge system that had more
than 900,000 commercial border crossings during the state fiscal
year ending August 31, 2002, is to be located in a municipality or a
municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction, the municipality may
choose the location of the facility within the municipality or the
municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction. The municipality
shall choose a location not later than the 180th day after the date
the department makes a request for a location. [The department
shall establish and maintain an inspection station at the locations
chosen in Subsection (a) only if the federal agencies involved in
the regulation of the passage of persons or vehicles at that border
crossing agree to the design of the facility at each location and
agree to use the facility at each location if built.
[(c) The department may enter into agreements with federal,
state, and municipal agencies to accomplish the purpose of this
section. An agreement may involve the lease of office space at the
inspection station by the department to the agency.]
SECTION 2. The Texas Department of Transportation shall
spend the money appropriated during the 76th Legislature for
Section 201.613, Transportation Code, as added by Chapter 1527,
Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, or money
received from the federal government to establish the border
inspection facilities under Section 201.613, Transportation Code,
as amended by this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.