Bill Text: TX HB1252 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to uniform weighing procedures requirements for motor vehicle weight enforcement officers.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2015-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/15 [HB1252 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB1252-Introduced.html

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84R8173 JAM-F
By: Pickett H.B. No. 1252

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to uniform weighing procedures requirements for motor
vehicle weight enforcement officers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 621.402, Transportation Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) The Department of Public Safety:
(1) shall establish by rule uniform weighing
procedures for weight enforcement officers to ensure an accurate
weight is obtained for a motor vehicle; and
(2) may revoke or rescind the authority of:
(A) a weight enforcement officer who fails to
comply with those rules; or
(B) weight enforcement officers of a municipal
police department, sheriff's department, or constable's office that
fails to comply with those rules.
SECTION 2. Section 621.508, Transportation Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 621.508. AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE FOR OPERATING VEHICLE
OVER MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE [AXLE] WEIGHT. (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 timber, pulp wood, wood chips, or
cotton, livestock, or other agricultural products that are:
(A) in their natural state; and
(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.
(b) 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, tandem axle weight, or gross weight
heavier than the weight authorized by law that at the time of the
offense the weight enforcement officer failed to follow the
weighing procedures established under Section 621.402(e) when
determining the weight of the vehicle.
SECTION 3. (a) Not later than January 1, 2016, the
Department of Public Safety shall adopt rules necessary to
implement Section 621.402(e), Transportation Code, as added by this
Act.
(b) Section 621.508(b), Transportation Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to an offense committed on or after the
effective date of a rule adopted by the Department of Public Safety
under this section. For purposes of this section, an offense was
committed before the effective date of a rule adopted by the
Department of Public Safety under this section if any element of the
offense occurred before that date.
(c) An offense committed before the effective date of a rule
adopted by the Department of Public Safety under this section 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.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.