85R9143 JAM-F
By: Kacal H.B. No. 2142
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to oversize or overweight vehicles transporting livestock
feed, grain, or grain by-products.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 621.508(a), Transportation Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution of, or an
action under Subchapter F for, the offense of operating a vehicle
with a single axle weight or tandem axle weight heavier than the
axle weight authorized by law that at the time of the offense the
vehicle:
(1) had a single axle weight or tandem axle weight that
was not heavier than the axle weight authorized by law plus 12
percent;
(2) was loaded with:
(A) timber, pulp wood, wood chips, [or] cotton,
livestock, livestock feed, grain, or grain by-products; or
(B) other agricultural products that are:
(i) [(A)] in their natural state; and
(ii) [(B)] being transported from the place
of production to the place of first marketing or first processing;
and
(3) was not being operated on a portion of the national
system of interstate and defense highways.
SECTION 2. Section 621.508(a), Transportation Code, as
amended 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 governed by the law in effect on
the date the offense was committed, 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 occurred before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.