By: Danburg H.B. No. 2675
73R5664 JD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the requirements for issuance of a driver's license.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 4, Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th
1-5 Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas
1-6 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 4. Who May Not Be Licensed. The Department shall not
1-8 issue any license under this Act to:
1-9 (1) any person who is under the age of fifteen (15)
1-10 years;
1-11 (2) any person, as a Class A or Class B driver, who is
1-12 under eighteen (18) years of age, unless he has completed the
1-13 approved driver training course referred to in Section 7 of this
1-14 Act; and in no case shall a Class A or Class B driver's license be
1-15 issued to one under seventeen (17) years of age;
1-16 (3) any person whose driver's license issued by this
1-17 State or another state or country has been suspended, revoked, or
1-18 canceled, during the suspension, revocation, or cancellation;
1-19 (4) any person who is shown to be addicted to the use
1-20 of alcohol or a controlled substance or other drugs that render a
1-21 person incapable of driving;
1-22 (5) any person who has previously, by a court of
1-23 competent jurisdiction, been adjudged mentally incompetent and who
1-24 has not, at the time of such application, been restored to
2-1 competency by judicial decree or released from a hospital for the
2-2 mentally incompetent upon a certificate of the superintendent that
2-3 such person is competent;
2-4 (6) any person who is required by this Act to take an
2-5 examination, unless such person shall have successfully passed such
2-6 examination;
2-7 (7) any person when in the opinion of the Department
2-8 such person is afflicted with or suffering from such physical or
2-9 mental disability or disease as will serve to prevent such person
2-10 from exercising reasonable and ordinary control over a motor
2-11 vehicle while operating the same upon the highways, nor shall a
2-12 license be issued to any person who is unable to identify and
2-13 understand highway warnings or direction signs in the English
2-14 language; provided, however, no person shall be refused a license
2-15 because of any physical defect unless it be shown by common
2-16 experience that such defect incapacitates him from safely operating
2-17 a motor vehicle;
2-18 (8) any person when the Department has good cause to
2-19 believe that the operation of a motor vehicle on the highways by
2-20 such person would be inimical to public safety or welfare; or
2-21 (9) any person, as a Class A or Class B driver, on or
2-22 after the date the Department begins issuance of commercial
2-23 driver's licenses under the Texas Commercial Driver's License Act
2-24 (Article 6687b-2, Revised Statutes), unless the person has provided
2-25 to the Department a sworn affidavit, on a form prescribed by the
2-26 Department, stating that the vehicles which the person will drive
2-27 thereafter, requiring a Class A or Class B driver's license, are
3-1 exempted from the definition of commercial motor vehicle, as
3-2 provided in Section 3(7), Texas Commercial Driver's License Act
3-3 (Article 6687b-2, Revised Statutes). The Department may issue
3-4 Class A or Class B instruction permits pursuant to Section 12(c) of
3-5 this Act.
3-6 (10) any person who has been reported by a court under
3-7 Section 1c or 2(a), Chapter 302, Acts of the 55th Legislature,
3-8 Regular Session, 1957 (Article 6701l-4, Vernon's Texas Civil
3-9 Statutes), for failure to appear or default in payment of a fine
3-10 unless the court has filed an additional report on final
3-11 disposition of the case.
3-12 (11) any person who is under the age of eighteen (18)
3-13 years unless the person:
3-14 (A) has obtained a high school diploma from a
3-15 secondary school in this state or any other jurisdiction or the
3-16 <its> equivalent of a high school diploma;
3-17 (B) has been enrolled for at least 45 days, and
3-18 is currently enrolled, in a program to prepare persons to pass the
3-19 high school equivalency exam; or
3-20 (C) is a student currently enrolled in a public
3-21 or private school <who attended school for at least 80 days in the
3-22 fall or spring semester preceding the date of application>.
3-23 SECTION 2. Section 7(a), Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th
3-24 Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas
3-25 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
3-26 (a) The Department may license a person as a Class C driver
3-27 who is under the age of eighteen (18) years, provided the person:
4-1 (1) is sixteen (16) years of age or older;
4-2 (2) has completed and passed a driver training course
4-3 approved by the Central Education Agency;
4-4 (3) has obtained a high school diploma from a
4-5 secondary school in this state or any other jurisdiction or the
4-6 <its> equivalent of a high school diploma or is a student currently
4-7 enrolled in a public or private school <who attended school for at
4-8 least 80 days in the fall or spring semester preceding the date of
4-9 application>, or has been enrolled for at least 45 days, and is
4-10 currently enrolled, in a program to prepare persons to pass the
4-11 high school equivalency exam; and
4-12 (4) has passed the examination required by Section 10
4-13 of this Act.
4-14 SECTION 3. Section 12(c), Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th
4-15 Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas
4-16 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
4-17 (c) The Department may issue an instruction permit without
4-18 photograph to any person fifteen (15) years of age or older but
4-19 younger than eighteen (18) years of age who is enrolled in or has
4-20 satisfactorily completed and passed the classroom phase of an
4-21 approved driver education course, has obtained a high school
4-22 diploma from a secondary school in this state or any other
4-23 jurisdiction or the <its> equivalent of a high school diploma or is
4-24 a student currently enrolled in a public or private school <who
4-25 attended school for at least 80 days in the fall or spring semester
4-26 preceding the date of application>, or has been enrolled for at
4-27 least 45 days, and is currently enrolled, in a program to prepare
5-1 persons to pass the high school equivalency exam, and who has
5-2 successfully passed all parts of the driver examination required in
5-3 Section 10 of this Act other than the driving test. The Department
5-4 may issue an instruction permit without photograph to any person
5-5 eighteen (18) years of age or older who has successfully passed all
5-6 parts of the driver examination required in Section 10 of this Act
5-7 other than the driving test. The instruction permit shall entitle
5-8 the applicant while having the permit in his immediate possession
5-9 to drive a type or general class of motor vehicle upon the public
5-10 highways when accompanied by a licensed driver, whose license
5-11 qualifies him to operate that type or general class of vehicle, who
5-12 is at least eighteen (18) years of age, who has at least one (1)
5-13 year of driving experience, and who is occupying a seat by the
5-14 driver.
5-15 SECTION 4. Section 12(e)(1), Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th
5-16 Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas
5-17 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
5-18 (1) The Department may issue a special restricted
5-19 operator's license to any person between the ages of fifteen (15)
5-20 and eighteen (18) years to operate only a motorcycle or
5-21 motor-driven cycle, with not more than one hundred twenty-five
5-22 (125) cc piston displacement; provided such person has completed
5-23 and passed a motorcycle operator training course approved by the
5-24 Department and the person has obtained a high school diploma from a
5-25 secondary school in this state or any other jurisdiction or the
5-26 <its> equivalent of a high school diploma or is a student currently
5-27 enrolled in a public or private school <who attended school for at
6-1 least 80 days in the fall or spring semester preceding the date of
6-2 application>, or has been enrolled for at least 45 days, and is
6-3 currently enrolled, in a program to prepare persons to pass the
6-4 high school equivalency exam. This motorcycle operator training
6-5 course will be made available. This motorcycle operator training
6-6 course will be an exception to the driver training course,
6-7 regarding the age limit, as applied in Section 7(a) of this Act.
6-8 Upon reaching the age of sixteen (16) and having completed the
6-9 above course, the 125cc restriction shall be removed without
6-10 completing any further motorcycle courses. This special restricted
6-11 license shall be issued on application to the Department in
6-12 accordance with Section 7 of this Act; shall be subject to the
6-13 requirements of Section 10 of this Act, and to other provisions of
6-14 this Act in the same manner as operator's licenses; and shall be in
6-15 the form prescribed by the Department. A driver's license is
6-16 required for operators of mopeds. A person must be at least
6-17 fifteen (15) years old to be issued a license to operate a moped.
6-18 The Department shall examine applicants for that type of license by
6-19 administering to them a written examination concerning traffic laws
6-20 applicable to the operation of mopeds. No test involving the
6-21 operation of the vehicle is required. The fee for the license is
6-22 Sixteen Dollars ($16). All applicable provisions of this Act
6-23 governing restricted operator's licenses for the operation of
6-24 motorcycles only also apply to moped operator's licenses, including
6-25 provisions relating to the application, issuance, duration,
6-26 suspension, and cancellation of those licenses.
6-27 SECTION 5. Section 22A(a), Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th
7-1 Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas
7-2 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
7-3 (a) The Central Education Agency shall design a standard
7-4 form for use by public and private schools to verify a student's
7-5 enrollment <and attendance>.
7-6 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993. The
7-7 changes in law made by this Act apply only to a person who applies
7-8 for a driver's license on or after that date.
7-9 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
7-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.