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.