By: Saunders H.B. No. 751
73R2444 DWS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to special license plates relating to the armed forces.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 5k(a), (b), and (f), Chapter 88, General
1-5 Laws, Acts of the 41st Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1929
1-6 (Article 6675a-5k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to
1-7 read as follows:
1-8 (a) The department shall design and provide for the issuance
1-9 of special license plates depicting the state capitol for passenger
1-10 cars and light commercial motor vehicles having a manufacturer's
1-11 rated carrying capacity of one ton or less and shall design and
1-12 provide for the issuance of special license plates for those
1-13 vehicles that are owned by persons who are:
1-14 (1) active or retired members or honorably discharged
1-15 veterans of a branch of the armed forces of the United States;
1-16 (2) the surviving spouses of individuals killed in
1-17 action while serving in the armed forces of the United States, as
1-18 long as the surviving spouse remains unmarried;
1-19 (3) survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor on
1-20 December 7, 1941, or their surviving spouses who have not
1-21 remarried;
1-22 (4) recipients of the Purple Heart medal or
1-23 recipients' surviving spouses who have not remarried;
1-24 (5) members of the United States Air Force Auxiliary,
2-1 Civil Air Patrol, members of the United States Coast Guard
2-2 Auxiliary;
2-3 (6) persons who served in a branch of the armed forces
2-4 of the United States after August 4, 1964, and before May 8, 1975;
2-5 or
2-6 (7) persons who served in a branch of the armed forces
2-7 of the United States, were deployed to the Middle East, and there
2-8 participated in Operation Desert Shield or Desert Storm.
2-9 (b) License plates issued to a member or veteran of a branch
2-10 of the armed forces, or to the individual's surviving spouse as
2-11 provided by Subsection (a)(2) of this section, shall bear the
2-12 designation of the appropriate branch of the armed forces. License
2-13 plates issued to Pearl Harbor survivors or their surviving spouses
2-14 who have not remarried shall bear the words "Pearl Harbor Survivor"
2-15 and shall be numbered consecutively. License plates issued to
2-16 recipients, or surviving spouses of recipients, of the Purple Heart
2-17 medal shall bear the Purple Heart emblem, shall bear the words
2-18 "Purple Heart" at the bottom of each plate, and if numbered plates
2-19 are issued, shall bear the letters "PH" as the prefix or suffix to
2-20 the assigned number. License plates issued to members of the civil
2-21 air patrol shall bear the words "Texas Wing Civil Air Patrol."
2-22 License plates issued to members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary shall
2-23 bear the words "Coast Guard Auxiliary." License plates issued to
2-24 persons who served in a branch of the armed forces of the United
2-25 States after August 4, 1964, and before May 8, 1975, shall bear the
2-26 words "Vietnam Veteran." License plates issued to persons who
2-27 served in a branch of the armed forces of the United States, were
3-1 deployed to the Middle East, and there participated in Operation
3-2 Desert Shield or Desert Storm shall bear the words "Desert Storm."
3-3 (f) The fee for issuance of special license plates under
3-4 this section, other than license plates depicting the capitol,
3-5 Purple Heart license plates, and Pearl Harbor license plates, is
3-6 $10, due when the license plates are initially issued <a year>.
3-7 The fee for Purple Heart license plates and Pearl Harbor license
3-8 plates is $3, due when the license plates are initially issued <a
3-9 year>. The fee for license plates depicting the capitol is $30 a
3-10 year. Except as provided by Subsection (g) of this section, a fee
3-11 imposed under this subsection is in addition to the motor vehicle
3-12 registration fee imposed by Section 5 of this Act, and if
3-13 personalized prestige license plates are issued, in addition to the
3-14 fee imposed by Section 5c of this Act.
3-15 SECTION 2. This Act applies only to fees having a payment
3-16 due date on or after the effective date of this Act. A fee having
3-17 a payment due date before the effective date of this Act is
3-18 governed by the law in effect on the date payment was due, and that
3-19 law is continued in effect for that purpose.
3-20 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
3-21 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.