BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 1373

By: Lucio

Transportation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Currently, the overweight corridor program provides an optional procedure for the issuance of a permit for the movement of oversize or overweight vehicles carrying cargo on state highways located in counties contiguous to the Gulf of Mexico and bordering the United Mexican States.  Proceeds from the permit fee have been used to administer, repair, maintain, and upgrade the state roads used in the program.  The program was established in 1997, on an interim basis and, due to its success and excellent safety history, has been extended by the 76th, 78th, and 79th Legislatures.

C.S.S.B. 1373 reenacts and amends Subchapter K, Chapter 623, Transportation Code.

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.S.B. 1373 amends Transportation Code provisions regarding port authority permits for oversize or overweight vehicles.  The bill requires the fees collected for the permits, less administrative costs, to be used solely to provide funds for the maintenance and improvements of state highways subject to the port authority.  The bill authorizes the port authority to retain administrative costs and limits the administrative costs to not more than 15 percent of the fees collected. 

C.S.S.B. 1373 requires the Texas Transportation Commission, with the consent of the port authority, to designate the most direct route from the Gateway International Bridge or the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates to the entrance of the Port of Brownsville using specific highways.  The bill requires the commission, if it designates a route or changes the route designated under these provisions, to notify the port authority of the route not later than the 60th day before the date that the designation takes effect.

C.S.S.B. 1373 requires the oversize or overweight permit issued by the port authority to include a statement of the kind of cargo being transported under the permit and a statement of the route designated under the provisions above for route designation, in addition to other required information.  The bill removes specific information required to be included with a port authority permit for oversize of overweight vehicles specifying the type of cargo being transported under the permit over specific highways and that the cargo will be transported over the most direct route between certain destinations. 

C.S.S.B 1373 repeals a provision requiring a port authority issuing oversize or overweight permits to make payments to the Texas Department of Transportation to provide funds for the maintenance of certain state highways.  The bill removes the June 1, 2009, expiration of the provisions relating to port authority permits for oversize and overweight vehicles.

C.S.S.B. 1373 establishes the manner in which its provisions take effect if the bill takes effect before June 1, 2009, or on or after June 1, 2009.

C.S.S.B. 1373 repeals Section 612.213, Transportation Code.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the act does not receive the necessary vote, the act takes effect September 1, 2009.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.S.B. 1373 differs from the original by requiring the Texas Transportation Commission to designate the most direct route between the Gateway International Bridge or the Veterans International Bridge and the Port of Brownsville and makes conforming changes.  The substitute differs from the original in nonsubstantive ways by using language reflective of certain bill drafting conventions.