HBA-MPA C.S.H.B. 2462 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2462 By: Alexander Transportation 4/9/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, Texas law allows certain farm vehicles and trailers to qualify for a reduced vehicle or trailer registration fee. Current statute specifies that any vehicle or trailer which is registered under this reduced fee may be used only by the owner of the vehicle or trailer to transport items related to the owner's farm or ranch operation. Accordingly, persons borrowing such a vehicle may be unwittingly breaking the law. C.S.H.B. 2462 removes the requirement that only the owner of a farmregistered vehicle or trailer may use the vehicle or trailer. 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. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 502.276(c), Transportation Code, to authorize a vehicle that has, rather than an owner who obtains, a distinguishing license plate issued under this section (Certain Farm Vehicles and Drilling and Construction Equipment) may be operated, rather than operate, temporarily on the highway if the vehicle meets certain conditions and is used exclusively to transport seasonally harvested agricultural products or livestock, rather than the owner's seasonally harvested agricultural products and livestock, from the place of production to the place of processing, market, or storage. SECTION 2.Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 2462 differs from the original bill by deleting the word "registration" from the caption. The substitute redesignates SECTION 2 from the original bill as SECTION 1, authorizing a vehicle used to transport agricultural products or livestock to operate temporarily on the highway with a distinguishing license plate issued under Section 502.276(b), Transportation Code. Section 502.163(a) (Commercial Motor Vehicle Used Primarily for Farm Purposes; Offense), Transportation Code, does not appear in the substitute. It was amended in the original. The substitute deletes SECTION 3, the prospective clause, from the original bill, and redesignates SECTION 4 (long emergency clause) from the original as SECTION 2 in the substitute.