BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 644 |
By: Phillips |
Transportation |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties have raised concerns over safety issues that arise when adherence to regulations for commercial motor vehicles is lax. C.S.H.B. 644 seeks to address these concerns by creating an offense for knowingly operating such a vehicle in violation of certain federal regulations.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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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.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 644 amends the Transportation Code to create a Class A misdemeanor offense for a person who knowingly operates, owns, leases, or assigns a person to drive a commercial motor vehicle in violation of an out-of-service order issued under certain federal regulations. The bill enhances the penalty for such an offense to a state jail felony or a second degree felony if it is shown on the trial of the offense that at the time of the offense the commercial motor vehicle was involved in a motor vehicle accident that resulted in bodily injury or a person's death, respectively.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2017.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 644 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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