New Texas law expands truck enforcement

New Texas law expands truck enforcement

Posted on Jun 21, 2007 in News & Views by PMC Comments Off

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has signed a bill into law intended to allow more police in the state to enforce truck rules. The new law takes effect Sept. 1.Currently, Texas law allows police in cities with populations of 100,000 or more to enforce commercial motor vehicle safety standards. Police in cities with populations of 25,000 or more also are allowed to enforce the CMV safety standards, as long as they are located in counties with populations of at least 2 million.

Cities must be certified from the Texas Department of Public Safety to enforce the safety standards.

The new law, previously SB545, allows police in cities with populations of 50,000 or more to enforce the safety standards. It also allows police in cities with populations of 25,000 or more and located in counties with populations of at least 500,000 to enforce the standards.

In addition, it extends enforcement of truck rules to municipalities with populations of at least 34,000. The only requirement is that they are located in a county that borders two or more states.

The changes to state law will allow more than 40 cities to become eligible to enforce truck rules

What this means people is more enforcement officials available to inspect Mexican trucks. Already, cities like Houston, Dallas, Lancaster, San Antonio, El Paso, and others have their own CVEU’s.