BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1171

By: Nichols

Transportation

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties contend that recently enacted legislation providing for the issuance of a permit for certain oversize or overweight vehicles transporting timber omitted the authority for vehicles issued the permit to operate on certain weight-restricted county roads and bridges. Additionally, the parties contend that the fee for the permit is too high, which limits the amount of permits that are issued. S.B. 1171 seeks to address these issues by revising current law relating to the operation of certain oversize or overweight vehicles.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

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

S.B. 1171 amends the Transportation Code to include a vehicle operating under a permit issued by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles for certain oversize or overweight vehicles transporting unrefined timber, wood chips, or woody biomass in a timber producing county among the vehicles authorized to operate under the conditions authorized by the respective permit over a road for which the executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation or a county commissioners court  has set a maximum weight, as applicable. The bill lowers the fee for that permit from $1,500 to $900.

S.B. 1171 exempts from the maximum width limitation for a vehicle operated on a public highway a vehicle traveling during daylight on a public highway other than a highway that is part of the national system of interstate and defense highways or traveling for not more than 50 miles on a highway that is part of that system if the vehicle is a vehicle on which equipment used in the harvesting and production of timber, other than equipment being transported from one dealer to another, is being moved by the owner of the equipment or by the owner's agent or employee to deliver the equipment to a new owner, to transport the equipment to or from a mechanic for maintenance or repair, or in the course of an agricultural forestry operation. The bill specifies that the existing exemption from the maximum width limitation for certain vehicles on which a farm tractor or implement of husbandry is being moved by the owner or by the owner's agent or employee in the course of an agricultural operation applies with respect to an agricultural forestry operation.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2015.