HBA-NRS C.S.H.B. 299 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 299
By: Gallego
Transportation
3/18/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law provides a maximum lawful speed of 70 miles per hour in daytime
for a vehicle on a highway numbered by the state or the United States
outside an urban district. Ten western states with  landscapes and
population densities similar to the western part of Texas, including New
Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arizona, allow for a maximum speed limit of 75 miles
per hour. C.S.H.B. 299 allows the Texas Transportation Commission to
establish a speed limit of 75 miles per hour on a part of the highway
system located in a county with a population density of less than 10
persons per square mile. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 299 amends the Transportation Code to authorize the Texas
Transportation Commission (commission) to establish a speed limit of 75
miles per hour on a part of the highway system located in a county with a
population density of less than 10 persons per square mile if the
commission determines that 75 miles per hour is a reasonable and safe speed
for that part of the highway system.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001. 

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 299 modifies the original bill by removing the provision  relating
to raising from 70 to 75 miles per hour the maximum lawful speed limit in
daytime for a vehicle on a highway outside an urban district, including a
farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road, and adding a provision authorizing
an increase from 70 to 75 miles per hour of the speed limit on certain
parts of the highway system with certain county population densities.