By Hilbert H.B. No. 2389
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the lawful operation of a motor vehicle by certain
1-3 chemically dependent persons and persons who are adjudged to be
1-4 mentally incompetent.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 30, Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th
1-7 Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas
1-8 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-9 Sec. 30. (a) A person may not operate a motor vehicle if
1-10 the person is:
1-11 (1) a person with a chemical dependency who:
1-12 (A) is likely to cause serious harm to the
1-13 person or to others; or
1-14 (B) will continue to suffer abnormal mental,
1-15 emotional, or physical distress, or to deteriorate in ability to
1-16 function independently if not treated; or
1-17 (2) a person who has been adjudged mentally
1-18 incompetent.
1-19 (b)(1) If a person has been issued a driver's license, the
1-20 person's driver's license is automatically revoked on:
1-21 (A) an adjudication of the person as mentally
1-22 incompetent; or
1-23 (B) the ordering by a court of involuntary
1-24 treatment of the person under Subchapter D, Chapter 462, Health and
2-1 Safety Code.
2-2 (2) If the person has not been issued a driver's
2-3 license, the adjudication of the person's incompetency or the
2-4 ordering of involuntary treatment of the person automatically
2-5 prohibits the department from issuing a driver's license to the
2-6 person.
2-7 (c) The clerk of the court that adjudges a person to be
2-8 mentally incompetent, or that under Subchapter D, Chapter 462,
2-9 Health and Safety Code, orders involuntary treatment of a
2-10 chemically dependent person, shall notify the department of the
2-11 court's adjudication or action before the 10th day after the date
2-12 the court adjudges the person to be incompetent or orders the
2-13 person to involuntary treatment.
2-14 (d) The revocation of a driver's license or the prohibition
2-15 against the issuance of a driver's license under Subsection (b) of
2-16 this section automatically expires when:
2-17 (1) the incompetent person is:
2-18 (A) restored to competency by judicial decree;
2-19 or
2-20 (B) released from a hospital for the mentally
2-21 incompetent on a certificate of the superintendent or administrator
2-22 that the person is competent; or
2-23 (2) the order of involuntary treatment of the
2-24 chemically dependent person expires.
2-25 (e) Before the 10th day after the action, the department
2-26 shall be notified by:
2-27 (1) the clerk of the appropriate court that:
3-1 (A) the incompetent person has been restored to
3-2 competency by judicial decree; or
3-3 (B) the order of involuntary treatment has
3-4 expired or has been terminated under Section 462.080(d), Health and
3-5 Safety Code; or
3-6 (2) the superintendent or administrator of the
3-7 hospital that the person has been released from the hospital on a
3-8 certificate.
3-9 (f) In this section, "chemical dependency" and "treatment"
3-10 have the meanings assigned those terms by Section 462.001, Health
3-11 and Safety Code. <It shall be unlawful for any person to act as a
3-12 driver of a motor vehicle who is addicted to the use of alcohol or
3-13 a controlled substance, or who has been adjudged mentally
3-14 incompetent and has not been restored to competency by judicial
3-15 decree or released from a hospital for the mentally incompetent
3-16 upon a certificate of the superintendent that such person is
3-17 competent. A finding that a person is addicted to the use of
3-18 alcohol or a controlled substance must be based on a determination
3-19 by the court that the person is psychologically or physiologically
3-20 dependent on alcohol or a controlled substance. Any finding by any
3-21 court of competent jurisdiction that any person holding a driver's
3-22 license is mentally incompetent or addicted to the use of alcohol
3-23 or a controlled substance shall carry with it a revocation of the
3-24 driver's license. It shall be the duty of the clerk of any court
3-25 in which such findings are made, to certify same to the Department
3-26 within ten (10) days.>
3-27 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-5 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-6 passage, and it is so enacted.