By Hill                                                H.B. No. 316
       74R1559 DWS-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to special license plates for peace officers wounded in
    1-3  the line of duty or certain survivors of peace officers killed in
    1-4  the line of duty.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Chapter 88, General Laws, Acts of the 41st
    1-7  Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1929 (Article 6675a-1 et seq.,
    1-8  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Section 5q to
    1-9  read as follows:
   1-10        Sec. 5q.  (a)  The department shall design and provide for
   1-11  the issuance of special license plates for a vehicle that is owned
   1-12  by:
   1-13              (1)  a person wounded in the line of duty as a peace
   1-14  officer; or
   1-15              (2)  a surviving spouse, parent, or adult child of a
   1-16  person killed in the line of duty as a peace officer.
   1-17        (b)  License plates issued under this section must bear an
   1-18  insignia depicting a yellow rose superimposed on the outline of a
   1-19  badge with the words "To Protect and Serve" inscribed above.
   1-20        (c)  The department shall issue license plates under this
   1-21  section to a person who:
   1-22              (1)  applies to the department on a form prescribed by
   1-23  the department;
   1-24              (2)  pays the fee prescribed by Subsection (e) of this
    2-1  section; and
    2-2              (3)  submits with the application proof, acceptable to
    2-3  the department, that the person is eligible to receive the license
    2-4  plates.
    2-5        (d)  A person applying for license plates under this section
    2-6  may:
    2-7              (1)  have a license plate number assigned by the
    2-8  department; or
    2-9              (2)  apply for personalized prestige license plates
   2-10  under Section 5c of this Act.
   2-11        (e)  The fee for issuance of special license plates under
   2-12  this section is $20 a year.  This fee is in addition to the motor
   2-13  vehicle registration fee imposed by Section 5 of this Act and, if
   2-14  personalized prestige license plates are issued, in addition to the
   2-15  fee imposed by Section 5c of this Act.  The department shall
   2-16  deposit fees collected under this section in the state treasury to
   2-17  the credit of the state highway fund.
   2-18        (f)  If the owner of a vehicle for which plates are issued
   2-19  under this section disposes of the vehicle during a registration
   2-20  year, the person shall return the special license plates to the
   2-21  department.
   2-22        (g)  A person eligible for license plates under this section
   2-23  as a surviving spouse of a person killed in the line of duty as a
   2-24  peace officer does not become ineligible because the person
   2-25  remarries.
   2-26        (h)  For the purposes of this section, "peace officer" has
   2-27  the meaning assigned by Section 1.07, Penal Code.
    3-1        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    3-2        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-3  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-4  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-5  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-6  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.