BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1305

By: Bonnen

Transportation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The optional procedure for the issuance of a permit by certain port authorities for the movement of oversize or overweight vehicles carrying cargo on certain state highways is called the overweight corridor program.  Observers note that allowing shippers to load containers to their maximum carrying weight helps them save transportation costs and provides an incentive for ocean carriers and shuttle services to call on those port authorities.  An additional benefit of the program, the interested parties assert, is that it makes highways and roads safer for local traffic, lowers truck emissions, and reduces highway maintenance costs.  It is noted by these parties that the savings will make manufacturers and affected port authorities more competitive and will encourage the retention and investment of jobs in the areas surrounding the port authority and in the state as a whole.

C.S.H.B. 1305 seeks to expand, in a limited and prescribed amount, the area in which the Texas Department of Transportation may authorize a port authority or navigation district to issue oversize or overweight vehicle permits. 

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. 1305 amends the Transportation Code to authorize the Texas Department of Transportation to authorize a port authority or navigation district in a county contiguous to the Gulf of Mexico or a bay or inlet opening into the gulf and adjacent to at least two counties with a population of 550,000 or more to issue permits for the movement of oversize or overweight vehicles carrying cargo on state highways located in the county.  The bill requires the Texas Transportation Commission, for a permit issued by such a port authority or navigation district and with the consent of the authority or district, to designate the most direct route to the entrance of Port Freeport using certain roads and highways.  The bill makes existing provisions relating to route designation to the entrance of the Port of Brownsville apply to a permit issued by a port authority or navigation district in a county  that borders the United Mexican States.  The bill redefines "port authority" for purposes of the law governing an optional procedure for the issuance of oversize or overweight vehicle permits by certain port authorities to include a navigation district created or operating under the Texas Constitution.  The bill makes a conforming change. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2011.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 1305 differs from the original by making the bill's provisions relating to the issuance of oversize or overweight vehicle permits apply to the issuance of permits in counties meeting certain conditions and located adjacent to at least two counties with a population of 550,000 or more, whereas the original makes the bill's provisions apply to counties meeting the conditions and located adjacent to at least two counties with a population of 350,000 or more.