1-1  By:  Hill (Senate Sponsor - Wentworth)                H.B. No. 1164
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 1993;
    1-3  May 13, 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 9, 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 for peace officers wounded or
   1-24  killed in the line of duty.
   1-25        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-26        SECTION 1.  Chapter 88, General Laws, Acts of the 41st
   1-27  Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1929 (Article 6675a-1 et seq.,
   1-28  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Section 5p to
   1-29  read as follows:
   1-30        Sec. 5p.  (a)  The department shall design and provide for
   1-31  the issuance of special license plates for a vehicle that is owned
   1-32  by:
   1-33              (1)  a person wounded in the line of duty as a peace
   1-34  officer; or
   1-35              (2)  a surviving spouse, parent, or adult child of a
   1-36  person killed in the line of duty as a peace officer.
   1-37        (b)  License plates issued under this section must bear an
   1-38  insignia depicting a yellow rose superimposed on the outline of a
   1-39  badge with the words "To Protect and Serve" inscribed above.
   1-40        (c)  The department shall issue license plates under this
   1-41  section to a person who:
   1-42              (1)  applies to the department on a form prescribed by
   1-43  the department;
   1-44              (2)  pays the fee prescribed by Subsection (e) of this
   1-45  section; and
   1-46              (3)  submits with the application proof, acceptable to
   1-47  the department, that the person is eligible to receive the license
   1-48  plates.
   1-49        (d)  A person applying for license plates under this section
   1-50  may:
   1-51              (1)  have a license plate number assigned by the
   1-52  department; or
   1-53              (2)  apply for personalized prestige license plates
   1-54  under Section 5c of this Act.
   1-55        (e)  The fee for issuance of special license plates under
   1-56  this section is $20 a year.  This fee is in addition to the motor
   1-57  vehicle registration fee imposed by Section 5 of this Act and, if
   1-58  personalized prestige license plates are issued, in addition to the
   1-59  fee imposed by Section 5c of this Act.  The department shall
   1-60  deposit fees collected under this section in the state treasury to
   1-61  the credit of the state highway fund.
   1-62        (f)  If the owner of a vehicle for which plates are issued
   1-63  under this section disposes of the vehicle during a registration
   1-64  year, the person shall return the special license plates to the
   1-65  department.
   1-66        (g)  A person eligible for license plates under this section
   1-67  as a surviving spouse of a person killed in the line of duty as a
   1-68  peace officer does not become ineligible because the person
    2-1  remarries.
    2-2        (h)  For the purposes of this section, "peace officer" has
    2-3  the meaning assigned by Section 1.07, Penal Code.
    2-4        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    2-5        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-6  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-7  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-8  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-9  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   2-10                               * * * * *
   2-11                                                         Austin,
   2-12  Texas
   2-13                                                         May 28, 1993
   2-14  Hon. Bob Bullock
   2-15  President of the Senate
   2-16  Sir:
   2-17  We, your Committee on State Affairs to which was referred H.B.
   2-18  No. 1164, have had the same under consideration, and I am
   2-19  instructed to report it back to the Senate with the recommendation
   2-20  that it do pass and be printed.
   2-21                                                         Harris of
   2-22  Dallas, Chairman
   2-23                               * * * * *
   2-24                               WITNESSES
   2-25  No witnesses appeared on H.B. 1164.