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


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 299
By: Gallego
Transportation
2/12/2001
Introduced



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. House Bill 299 raises the maximum lawful speed on certain
highways to 75 miles per hour in the daytime.  

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

House Bill 299 amends the Transportation Code to raise from 70 to 75 miles
per hour the maximum lawful speed in daytime for a vehicle 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. The bill authorizes the
speed limit increase on a highway or portion of a highway that on the
effective date of the Act has a speed limit of 70 miles per hour in daytime
and 65 miles per hour in nighttime, but only if the Texas Department of
Transportation determines that such an increase is appropriate.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.