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Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Texas State Legislative Board |
Chairman's Report on the 2009 Texas State Legislature - Detailed report on bills supported in the 81st Texas State Legislature.
March 2009
Brothers and Sisters,
I am pleased to announce that the carry-all safety bill, filed at our request by Senator John Carona, passed out of the Texas Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009.
The bill, SB481, was voted out on a vote of 8 for, 0 against with one Senator absent.
Additionally, the bill was recommended to go to the Senate Local and Uncontested Calendar, which is reserved for uncontroversial bills having no opposition. This recommendation is not finalized until the Senate Committee on Administration gives its OK. If the bill does appear on the L&U calendar, which is expected early in March, its passage on the Senate side of the legislature is virtually assured.
Representative Marc Veasey filed an identical version of the legislation, HB645 in the House. You may recall that he also filed the bill, on our behalf, last session.
Every bill must pass both the Senate and House chambers before they can be signed into law. Since the Senate version is moving ahead of the House version, Representative Veasey will wait for SB481 to pass the Senate and then sponsor that bill in the House.
The bill will require the Department of Public Safety to adopt some additional regulations for carry-all companies, which are called contract carriers. The new regulations will require the contract carriers to set up a drug and alcohol testing program, including random testing, for the drivers. It will also mandate a minimum of 1.5 million dollars in liability insurance on each vehicle used by the contract carriers. The bill also requires the Department of Public Safety, and the railroad companies, to notify the contract carriers as to what regulations apply to their business.
Contract carriers are current governed by hours of service limits for the drivers, certain driver qualifications, and vehicle maintenance standards.
A copy of SB481 and the BLET talking points here.
The committee hearing can be seen at the following link. Once there, click on February 25 Senate Committee on Transportation button. The proceedings for SB481 begin at about the 18 minute mark.
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/avarchive/?yr=2009