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Senate Bill 161 |
Senate Author: Ellis |
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Effective: 5-27-09 |
House Sponsor: Harper-Brown |
Senate Bill 161 amends the Transportation Code to add provisions to the law requiring the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to issue specialty license plates that include the words "God Bless Texas" and "God Bless America." The bill requires the remainder of the fee for the license plates, after deduction of TxDOT's administrative costs, to be deposited to the credit of the share the road account in the state treasury, rather than the state highway fund, to only be used by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to support the Safe Routes to School Program of a certain designated statewide nonprofit organization. The bill authorizes up to 25 percent of the remainder of the fee to be used to support the activities of the nonprofit organization in marketing and promoting the Safe Routes to School Program and the "God Bless Texas" and "God Bless America" license plates. The bill authorizes TEA to use the money received from the license plates to secure funds available under federal matching programs for safe routes to school and obesity prevention.