By: Perry  S.B. No. 1338
         (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 2015; March 18, 2015, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Transportation;
  April 23, 2015, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0; April 23, 2015,
  sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1338 By:  Huffines
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to an exemption from length limitations for certain
  vehicles or combinations of vehicles used to transport harvest
  machines.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 622.902, Transportation Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         Sec. 622.902.  LENGTH EXCEPTIONS. The length limitations
  provided by Sections 621.203 to 621.205 do not apply to:
               (1)  machinery used exclusively for drilling water
  wells, including machinery that is itself a unit or that is a unit
  mounted on a conventional vehicle or chassis;
               (2)  a vehicle owned or operated by a public, private,
  or volunteer fire department;
               (3)  a vehicle or combination of vehicles operated
  exclusively in the territory of a municipality or to a combination
  of vehicles operated by a municipality in a suburb adjoining the
  municipality in which the municipality has been using the equipment
  or similar equipment in connection with an established service to
  the suburb;
               (4)  a truck-tractor, truck-tractor combination, or
  truck-trailer combination exclusively transporting machinery,
  materials, and equipment used in the construction, operation, and
  maintenance of facilities, including pipelines, that are used for
  the discovery, production, and processing of natural gas or
  petroleum;
               (5)  a drive-away saddlemount vehicle transporter
  combination or a drive-away saddlemount with fullmount vehicle
  transporter combination, as defined by 23 C.F.R. Part 658 or its
  successor, if:
                     (A)  the overall length of the combination is not
  longer than 97 feet; and
                     (B)  the combination does not have more than three
  saddlemounted vehicles if the combination does not include more
  than one fullmount vehicle;
               (6)  the combination of a tow truck and another vehicle
  or vehicle combination if:
                     (A)  the other vehicle or vehicle combination
  cannot be normally or safely driven or was abandoned on a highway;
  and
                     (B)  the tow truck is towing the other vehicle or
  vehicle combination directly to the nearest authorized place of
  repair, terminal, or destination of unloading; [or]
               (7)  a vehicle or combination of vehicles used to
  transport a harvest machine [combine] that is used in farm custom
  harvesting operations on a farm if the overall length of the vehicle
  or combination is not longer than:
                     (A)  75 feet if the vehicle is traveling on a
  highway that is part of the national system of interstate and
  defense highways or the federal aid primary highway system; or
                     (B)  81-1/2 feet if the vehicle is not traveling
  on a highway that is part of the national system of interstate and
  defense highways or the federal aid primary highway system; or
               (8)  a truck-tractor operated in combination with a
  semitrailer and trailer or semitrailer and semitrailer if:
                     (A)  the combination is used to transport a
  harvest machine that is used in farm custom harvesting operations
  on a farm;
                     (B)  the overall length of the combination,
  excluding the length of the truck-tractor, is not longer than
  81-1/2 feet; and
                     (C)  the combination is traveling on a highway
  that:
                           (i)  is not part of the national system of
  interstate and defense highways or the federal aid primary highway
  system; and
                           (ii)  is located in a county with a
  population of less than 50,000.
         SECTION 2.  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, 2015.
 
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