H.B. No. 537
AN ACT
relating to the transportation of children in motor vehicles;
creating an offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 545.412(e) and (f), Transportation
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(e) This section does not apply to a person:
(1) operating a vehicle transporting passengers for
hire, excluding [including] third-party transport service
providers when transporting clients pursuant to a contract to
provide nonemergency Medicaid transportation; or
(2) transporting a child in a vehicle in which all
seating positions equipped with child passenger safety seat systems
or safety belts are occupied.
(f) In this section:
(1) "Child passenger safety seat system" means an
infant or child passenger restraint system that meets the federal
standards for crash-tested restraint systems as set by the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
(2) "Passenger vehicle" means a passenger car, light
truck, sport utility vehicle, passenger van designed to transport
15 or fewer passengers, including the driver, truck, or truck
tractor.
(3) "Safety belt" means a lap belt and any shoulder
straps included as original equipment on or added to a vehicle.
(4) "Secured," in connection with use of a safety
belt, means using the lap belt and any shoulder straps according to
the instructions of:
(A) the manufacturer of the vehicle, if the
safety belt is original equipment; or
(B) the manufacturer of the safety belt, if the
safety belt has been added to the vehicle.
SECTION 2. Section 545.413, Transportation Code, is amended
by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as
follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if:
(1) the person:
(A) is at least 15 years of age;
(B) is riding in [the front seat of] a passenger
vehicle while the vehicle is being operated;
(C) is occupying a seat that is equipped with a
safety belt; and
(D) is not secured by a safety belt; or
(2) as the operator of a school bus equipped with a
safety belt for the operator's seat, the person is not secured by
the safety belt.
(b-1) A person commits an offense if the person allows a
child who is younger than 17 years of age and who is not required to
be secured in a child passenger safety seat system under Section
545.412(a) to ride in a passenger van designed to transport 15 or
fewer passengers, including the driver, without securing the child
individually by a safety belt, if the child is occupying a seat that
is equipped with a safety belt.
SECTION 3. Section 545.416, Transportation Code, is amended
by adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows:
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (e), an operator may
not carry another person on a motorcycle unless the other person is
at least five years of age. An offense under this subsection is a
misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 or more than
$200. It is a defense to prosecution under this subsection that the
operator was operating the motorcycle in an emergency or for a law
enforcement purpose.
(e) Subsection (d) does not prohibit an operator from
carrying on a motorcycle a person younger than five years of age who
is seated in a sidecar attached to the motorcycle.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
covered by the law in effect immediately before the effective date
of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
was committed before that date.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 537 was passed by the House on May 11,
2009, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 1, 2 present, not
voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
H.B. No. 537 on May 29, 2009, and requested the appointment of a
conference committee to consider the differences between the two
houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
on H.B. No. 537 on May 31, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 105,
Nays 34, 1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 537 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 23, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
537 on May 31, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor