Florida Senate - 2015                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 1184
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì9217647Î921764                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  04/16/2015           .                                
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       Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and
       Economic Development (Brandes) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 301 - 303
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 5. Subsections (1) and (3) of section 316.303,
    6  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
    7         316.303 Television receivers.—
    8         (1) No motor vehicle operated on the highways of this state
    9  shall be equipped with television-type receiving equipment so
   10  located that the viewer or screen is visible from the driver’s
   11  seat, unless the vehicle is equipped with autonomous technology,
   12  as defined in s. 316.003(90), and is being operated in
   13  autonomous mode, as provided in s. 316.85(2); or unless the
   14  vehicle is equipped and operating with driver-assistive truck
   15  platooning technology, as defined in s. 316.003(92).
   16         (3) This section does not prohibit the use of an electronic
   17  display used in conjunction with a vehicle navigation system; or
   18  an electronic display used by an operator of a vehicle equipped
   19  with autonomous technology, as defined in s. 316.003(90), while
   20  the vehicle is being operated in autonomous mode, as provided in
   21  s. 316.85(2); or an electronic display used by the operator of a
   22  vehicle equipped and operating with driver-assistive truck
   23  platooning technology, as defined in s. 316.003(92).
   24         Section 6.  Paragraph (b) of subsection (3) and subsection
   25  (14) of section 316.515, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   26         316.515 Maximum width, height, length.—
   27         (3) LENGTH LIMITATION.—Except as otherwise provided in this
   28  section, length limitations apply solely to a semitrailer or
   29  trailer, and not to a truck tractor or to the overall length of
   30  a combination of vehicles. No combination of commercial motor
   31  vehicles coupled together and operating on the public roads may
   32  consist of more than one truck tractor and two trailing units.
   33  Unless otherwise specifically provided for in this section, a
   34  combination of vehicles not qualifying as commercial motor
   35  vehicles may consist of no more than two units coupled together;
   36  such nonqualifying combination of vehicles may not exceed a
   37  total length of 65 feet, inclusive of the load carried thereon,
   38  but exclusive of safety and energy conservation devices approved
   39  by the department for use on vehicles using public roads.
   40  Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a truck
   41  tractor-semitrailer combination engaged in the transportation of
   42  automobiles or boats may transport motor vehicles or boats on
   43  part of the power unit; and, except as may otherwise be mandated
   44  under federal law, an automobile or boat transporter semitrailer
   45  may not exceed 50 feet in length, exclusive of the load;
   46  however, the load may extend up to an additional 6 feet beyond
   47  the rear of the trailer. The 50-feet length limitation does not
   48  apply to non-stinger-steered automobile or boat transporters
   49  that are 65 feet or less in overall length, exclusive of the
   50  load carried thereon, or to stinger-steered automobile or boat
   51  transporters that are 75 feet or less in overall length,
   52  exclusive of the load carried thereon. For purposes of this
   53  subsection, a “stinger-steered automobile or boat transporter”
   54  is an automobile or boat transporter configured as a semitrailer
   55  combination wherein the fifth wheel is located on a drop frame
   56  located behind and below the rearmost axle of the power unit.
   57  Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (b), any straight truck or
   58  truck tractor-semitrailer combination engaged in the
   59  transportation of horticultural trees may allow the load to
   60  extend up to an additional 10 feet beyond the rear of the
   61  vehicle, provided said trees are resting against a retaining bar
   62  mounted above the truck bed so that the root balls of the trees
   63  rest on the floor and to the front of the truck bed and the tops
   64  of the trees extend up over and to the rear of the truck bed,
   65  and provided the overhanging portion of the load is covered with
   66  protective fabric.
   67         (b) Semitrailers.—
   68         1. A semitrailer operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer
   69  combination may not exceed 48 feet in extreme overall outside
   70  dimension, measured from the front of the unit to the rear of
   71  the unit and the load carried thereon, exclusive of safety and
   72  energy conservation devices approved by the department for use
   73  on vehicles using public roads, unless it complies with
   74  subparagraph 2. A semitrailer which exceeds 48 feet in length
   75  and is used to transport divisible loads may operate in this
   76  state only if issued a permit under s. 316.550 and if such
   77  trailer meets the requirements of this chapter relating to
   78  vehicle equipment and safety. Except for highways on the tandem
   79  trailer truck highway network, public roads deemed unsafe for
   80  longer semitrailer vehicles or those roads on which such longer
   81  vehicles are determined not to be in the interest of public
   82  convenience shall, in conformance with s. 316.006, be restricted
   83  by the Department of Transportation or by the local authority to
   84  use by semitrailers not exceeding a length of 48 feet, inclusive
   85  of the load carried thereon but exclusive of safety and energy
   86  conservation devices approved by the department for use on
   87  vehicles using public roads. Truck tractor-semitrailer
   88  combinations shall be afforded reasonable access to terminals;
   89  facilities for food, fuel, repairs, and rest; and points of
   90  loading and unloading.
   91         2. A semitrailer which is more than 48 feet but not more
   92  than 57 53 feet in extreme overall outside dimension, as
   93  measured pursuant to subparagraph 1., may operate on public
   94  roads, except roads on the State Highway System which are
   95  restricted by the Department of Transportation or other roads
   96  restricted by local authorities, if:
   97         a. The distance between the kingpin or other peg that locks
   98  into the fifth wheel of a truck tractor and the center of the
   99  rear axle or rear group of axles does not exceed 41 feet, or, in
  100  the case of a semitrailer used exclusively or primarily to
  101  transport vehicles in connection with motorsports competition
  102  events, the distance does not exceed 46 feet from the kingpin to
  103  the center of the rear axles; and
  104         b. It is equipped with a substantial rear-end underride
  105  protection device meeting the requirements of 49 C.F.R. s.
  106  393.86, “Rear End Protection.”
  107  
  108  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  109  And the title is amended as follows:
  110         Delete line 41
  111  and insert:
  112         316.303, F.S.; providing exceptions to the prohibition
  113         of certain television-type receiving equipment and
  114         certain electronic displays in vehicles; amending s.
  115         316.515, F.S.; extending the allowable length of
  116         certain semitrailers authorized to operate on public
  117         roads under certain conditions; authorizing the
  118         Department of