86R4590 MP-F
By: RodrÃguez S.B. No. 1023
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prima facie speed limit on certain streets and
highways.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 545.352(b), Transportation Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
are lawful:
(1) 25 [30] miles per hour in an urban district on a
street other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
(2) except as provided by Subdivision (4), 70 miles
per hour on a highway numbered by this state or the United States
outside an urban district, including a farm-to-market or
ranch-to-market road;
(3) except as provided by Subdivision (4), 60 miles
per hour on a highway that is outside an urban district and not a
highway numbered by this state or the United States;
(4) outside an urban district:
(A) 60 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
bus that has passed a commercial motor vehicle inspection under
Section 548.201 and is on a highway numbered by the United States or
this state, including a farm-to-market road; or
(B) 50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
bus that:
(i) has not passed a commercial motor
vehicle inspection under Section 548.201; or
(ii) is traveling on a highway not numbered
by the United States or this state;
(5) on a beach, 15 miles per hour; or
(6) on a county road adjacent to a public beach, 15
miles per hour, if declared by the commissioners court of the
county.
SECTION 2. Sections 545.356(b-1) and (d), Transportation
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b-1) Except as provided by Subsection (b-3), the governing
body of a municipality, for a highway or a part of a highway in the
municipality that is not an officially designated or marked highway
or road of the state highway system, may declare a lower speed limit
of not less than 20 [25] miles per hour, if the governing body
determines that the prima facie speed limit on the highway is
unreasonable or unsafe.
(d) The governing body of a municipality that declares a
lower speed limit on a highway or part of a highway under Subsection
(b-1) or (b-3), not later than February 1 of each year, shall
publish on its Internet website and submit to the department a
report that compares for each of the two previous calendar years:
(1) the number of traffic citations issued by peace
officers of the municipality and the alleged speed of the vehicles,
for speed limit violations on the highway or part of the highway;
[(2) the number of warning citations issued by peace
officers of the municipality on the highway or part of the highway;]
and
(2) [(3)] the number of vehicular accidents that
resulted in injury or death and were attributable to speed limit
violations on the highway or part of the highway.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Section
545.352(b), Transportation Code, applies only to an offense for a
violation of that section committed on or after the effective date
of this Act. An offense for a violation of that section 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 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.