1-1  By:  Saunders (Senate Sponsor - Armbrister)            H.B. No. 751
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House May 13, 1993;
    1-3  May 14, 1993, read first time and referred to Committee on State
    1-4  Affairs; May 28, 1993, reported favorably by the following vote:
    1-5  Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 28, 1993, sent to printer.)
    1-6                            COMMITTEE VOTE
    1-7                          Yea     Nay      PNV      Absent 
    1-8        Harris of Dallas   x                               
    1-9        Rosson             x                               
   1-10        Carriker           x                               
   1-11        Henderson          x                               
   1-12        Leedom             x                               
   1-13        Lucio              x                               
   1-14        Luna               x                               
   1-15        Nelson             x                               
   1-16        Patterson          x                               
   1-17        Shelley            x                               
   1-18        Sibley             x                               
   1-19        West                                           x   
   1-20        Whitmire                                       x   
   1-21                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
   1-22                                AN ACT
   1-23  relating to special license plates relating to the armed forces.
   1-24        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-25        SECTION 1.  Sections 5k(a), (b), and (f), Chapter 88, General
   1-26  Laws, Acts of the 41st Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1929
   1-27  (Article 6675a-5k, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to
   1-28  read as follows:
   1-29        (a)  The department shall design and provide for the issuance
   1-30  of special license plates depicting the state capitol for passenger
   1-31  cars and light commercial motor vehicles having a manufacturer's
   1-32  rated carrying capacity of one ton or less and shall design and
   1-33  provide for the issuance of special license plates for those
   1-34  vehicles that are owned by persons who are:
   1-35              (1)  active or retired members of a branch of the armed
   1-36  forces of the United States;
   1-37              (2)  the surviving spouses of individuals killed in
   1-38  action while serving in the armed forces of the United States, as
   1-39  long as the surviving spouse remains unmarried;
   1-40              (3)  survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor on
   1-41  December 7, 1941, or their surviving spouses who have not
   1-42  remarried;
   1-43              (4)  recipients of the Purple Heart medal or
   1-44  recipients' surviving spouses who have not remarried;
   1-45              (5)  members of the United States Air Force Auxiliary,
   1-46  Civil Air Patrol, members of the United States Coast Guard
   1-47  Auxiliary;
   1-48              (6)  persons who served in a branch of the armed forces
   1-49  of the United States after August 4, 1964, and before May 8, 1975;
   1-50  <or>
   1-51              (7)  persons who served in a branch of the armed forces
   1-52  of the United States, were deployed to the Middle East, and there
   1-53  participated in Operation Desert Shield or Desert Storm; or
   1-54              (8)  honorably discharged veterans of a branch of the
   1-55  armed forces of the United States.
   1-56        (b)  License plates issued to an active or retired <a> member
   1-57  of a branch of the armed forces, or to the individual's surviving
   1-58  spouse as provided by Subsection (a)(2) of this section, shall bear
   1-59  the designation of the appropriate branch of the armed forces.
   1-60  License plates issued to an honorably discharged veteran of a
   1-61  branch of the armed forces shall bear the word "Veteran."  License
   1-62  plates issued to Pearl Harbor survivors or their surviving spouses
   1-63  who have not remarried shall bear the words "Pearl Harbor Survivor"
   1-64  and shall be numbered consecutively.  License plates issued to
   1-65  recipients, or surviving spouses of recipients, of the Purple Heart
   1-66  medal shall bear the Purple Heart emblem, shall bear the words
   1-67  "Purple Heart" at the bottom of each plate, and if numbered plates
   1-68  are issued, shall bear the letters "PH" as the prefix or suffix to
    2-1  the assigned number.  License plates issued to members of the civil
    2-2  air patrol shall bear the words "Texas Wing Civil Air Patrol."
    2-3  License plates issued to members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary shall
    2-4  bear the words "Coast Guard Auxiliary."  License plates issued to
    2-5  persons who served in a branch of the armed forces of the United
    2-6  States after August 4, 1964, and before May 8, 1975, shall bear the
    2-7  words "Vietnam Veteran."  License plates issued to persons who
    2-8  served in a branch of the armed forces of the United States, were
    2-9  deployed to the Middle East, and there participated in Operation
   2-10  Desert Shield or Desert Storm shall bear the words "Desert Storm."
   2-11        (f)  The fee for issuance of special license plates under
   2-12  this section, other than license plates depicting the capitol,
   2-13  Purple Heart license plates, <and> Pearl Harbor license plates, and
   2-14  honorably discharged veteran plates, is $10 a year.  The fee for
   2-15  Purple Heart license plates and Pearl Harbor license plates is $3 a
   2-16  year.  The fee for license plates depicting the capitol is $30 a
   2-17  year.  The fee for honorably discharged veteran plates is $10, due
   2-18  when the license plates are initially issued.  Except as provided
   2-19  by Subsection (g) of this section, a fee imposed under this
   2-20  subsection is in addition to the motor vehicle registration fee
   2-21  imposed by Section 5 of this Act, and if personalized prestige
   2-22  license plates are issued, in addition to the fee imposed by
   2-23  Section 5c of this Act.
   2-24        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-25        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-26  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-27  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   2-28  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-29  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   2-30                               * * * * *
   2-31                                                         Austin,
   2-32  Texas
   2-33                                                         May 28, 1993
   2-34  Hon. Bob Bullock
   2-35  President of the Senate
   2-36  Sir:
   2-37  We, your Committee on State Affairs to which was referred H.B.
   2-38  No. 751, have had the same under consideration, and I am instructed
   2-39  to report it back to the Senate with the recommendation that it do
   2-40  pass and be printed.
   2-41                                                         Harris of
   2-42  Dallas, Chairman
   2-43                               * * * * *
   2-44                               WITNESSES
   2-45  No witnesses appeared on H.B. No.751.