88R174 JRR-D
By: Burrows H.B. No. 4986
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to size limitations for certain vehicles transporting
agricultural products and equipment.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 504.505(a), Transportation Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) The department shall issue specialty license plates for
a single motor vehicle that is:
(1) used only to transport chile pepper modules, seed
cotton, cotton, cotton burrs, hay, or equipment used in
transporting or processing chile peppers, [or] cotton, or hay; and
(2) not more than 10 feet in width.
SECTION 2. Section 622.101, Transportation Code, is amended
by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a [A] single motor
vehicle or truck-tractor operated in combination with a semitrailer
and trailer or semitrailer and semitrailer used exclusively to
transport chile pepper modules, seed cotton, cotton, cotton burrs,
hay, or equipment used to transport or process chile pepper
modules, [or] cotton, or hay, including a motor vehicle or burr
spreader, may not be operated on a highway or road if the vehicle
is:
(1) wider than 10 feet and the highway has not been
designated by the commission under Section 621.202;
(2) longer than 48 feet, if the vehicle is a single
motor vehicle; or
(3) higher than 14 feet 6 inches, if the vehicle is a
single motor vehicle.
(d) Subsection (a) does not apply to a vehicle transporting
cylindrical bales of hay under a permit issued under Section
623.017.
SECTION 3. 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;
(7) a vehicle or combination of vehicles used to
transport a harvest machine 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;
(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 300,000; [or]
(9) a truck-tractor operated in combination with a
semitrailer and trailer or semitrailer and semitrailer if:
(A) the combination is used to transport chile
pepper modules, seed cotton, cotton, cotton burrs, hay, or
equipment used to transport or process chile pepper modules,
cotton, or hay, including a motor vehicle or burr spreader; and
(B) the overall length of the combination is not
longer than:
(i) 75 feet if the combination 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
(ii) 81-1/2 feet if the combination 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
(10) a towaway trailer transporter combination, as
defined by 49 U.S.C. Section 31111, if the overall length of the
combination is not longer than 82 feet.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.