1-1 By: Hilbert (Senate Sponsor - Whitmire) H.B. No. 2389
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 1995;
1-3 May 15, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on State
1-4 Affairs; May 25, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 25, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the lawful operation of a motor vehicle by certain
1-9 chemically dependent persons and persons who are adjudged to be
1-10 mentally incompetent.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 30, Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th
1-13 Legislature, Regular Session, 1941 (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas
1-14 Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-15 Sec. 30. (a) A person may not operate a motor vehicle if
1-16 the person is:
1-17 (1) a person with a chemical dependency who:
1-18 (A) is likely to cause serious harm to the
1-19 person or to others; or
1-20 (B) will continue to suffer abnormal mental,
1-21 emotional, or physical distress, or to deteriorate in ability to
1-22 function independently if not treated; or
1-23 (2) a person who has been adjudged mentally
1-24 incompetent.
1-25 (b)(1) If a person has been issued a driver's license, the
1-26 person's driver's license is automatically revoked on:
1-27 (A) an adjudication of the person as mentally
1-28 incompetent; or
1-29 (B) the ordering by a court of involuntary
1-30 treatment of the person under Subchapter D, Chapter 462, Health and
1-31 Safety Code.
1-32 (2) If the person has not been issued a driver's
1-33 license, the adjudication of the person's incompetency or the
1-34 ordering of involuntary treatment of the person automatically
1-35 prohibits the department from issuing a driver's license to the
1-36 person.
1-37 (c) The clerk of the court that adjudges a person to be
1-38 mentally incompetent, or that under Subchapter D, Chapter 462,
1-39 Health and Safety Code, orders involuntary treatment of a
1-40 chemically dependent person, shall notify the department of the
1-41 court's adjudication or action before the 10th day after the date
1-42 the court adjudges the person to be incompetent or orders the
1-43 person to involuntary treatment.
1-44 (d) The revocation of a driver's license or the prohibition
1-45 against the issuance of a driver's license under Subsection (b) of
1-46 this section automatically expires when:
1-47 (1) the incompetent person is:
1-48 (A) restored to competency by judicial decree;
1-49 or
1-50 (B) released from a hospital for the mentally
1-51 incompetent on a certificate of the superintendent or administrator
1-52 that the person is competent; or
1-53 (2) the order of involuntary treatment of the
1-54 chemically dependent person expires.
1-55 (e) Before the 10th day after the action, the department
1-56 shall be notified by:
1-57 (1) the clerk of the appropriate court that:
1-58 (A) the incompetent person has been restored to
1-59 competency by judicial decree; or
1-60 (B) the order of involuntary treatment has
1-61 expired or has been terminated under Section 462.080(d), Health and
1-62 Safety Code; or
1-63 (2) the superintendent or administrator of the
1-64 hospital that the person has been released from the hospital on a
1-65 certificate.
1-66 (f) In this section, "chemical dependency" and "treatment"
1-67 have the meanings assigned those terms by Section 462.001, Health
1-68 and Safety Code. <It shall be unlawful for any person to act as a
2-1 driver of a motor vehicle who is addicted to the use of alcohol or
2-2 a controlled substance, or who has been adjudged mentally
2-3 incompetent and has not been restored to competency by judicial
2-4 decree or released from a hospital for the mentally incompetent
2-5 upon a certificate of the superintendent that such person is
2-6 competent. A finding that a person is addicted to the use of
2-7 alcohol or a controlled substance must be based on a determination
2-8 by the court that the person is psychologically or physiologically
2-9 dependent on alcohol or a controlled substance. Any finding by any
2-10 court of competent jurisdiction that any person holding a driver's
2-11 license is mentally incompetent or addicted to the use of alcohol
2-12 or a controlled substance shall carry with it a revocation of the
2-13 driver's license. It shall be the duty of the clerk of any court
2-14 in which such findings are made, to certify same to the Department
2-15 within ten (10) days.>
2-16 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-22 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-23 * * * * *