BILL ANALYSIS
By: Driver
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Reduced speed limit signs in construction and maintenance work zones on highways serve to regulate traffic and alert drivers to situations where caution is necessary for the safety of both vehicle occupants and construction workers. Placement of the signs where work is not on-going is an unnecessary impediment to the free flow of traffic. It may also encourage drivers to disregard all reduced speed limit/work zone signs, including those placed where a hazard exists or workers are present. C.S.H.B. 1925 requires the Texas Department of Transportation to remove or cover these signs when no hazard exists that dictates the need for a restricted speed limit.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 1925 adds Section 201.907 to the Transportation Code to require that the department to remove or cover or require the removal or covering of a sign that restricts the speed limit in a construction or maintenance work zone during any period when no hazard exists that dictates the need for a restricted speed limit. The bill also defines "construction or maintenance work zone."
EFFECTIVE DATE
Upon passage, or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
C.S.H.B. 1925 differs from the original by requiring the removal or covering of signs restricting the speed limit, whereas H.B. 1925 requires the removal or covering of signs that indicate that an area is a construction or maintenance work zone or that restricts the speed limit in a construction or work zone.