By Nelson                                              S.B. No. 207
       74R1504 DAK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the suspension or denial of a driver's license or
    1-3  permit to certain truant children.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 54.042, Family Code, is amended by adding
    1-6  Subsection (f) to read as follows:
    1-7        (f)  A juvenile court, in a disposition hearing under Section
    1-8  54.04, shall order the Department of Public Safety to suspend a
    1-9  child's driver's license or permit or, if the child does not have a
   1-10  license or permit, to deny the issuance of a license or permit to
   1-11  the child if the court finds that the child has engaged in conduct
   1-12  in need of supervision for unexcused voluntary absences from school
   1-13  under Section 51.03(b)(2).  The order shall state that the
   1-14  suspension or denial is effective until the earlier of the 18th
   1-15  birthday of the child or a subsequent order ending the suspension
   1-16  or denial.  The court may order the Department of Public Safety to
   1-17  end the suspension or denial of the license or permit only if:
   1-18              (1)  the court finds that the child has been regularly
   1-19  attending school or a remedial course of instruction for a period
   1-20  of at least 90 days preceding the date the court renders the order;
   1-21  or
   1-22              (2)  the child receives a high school diploma from an
   1-23  accredited secondary school or a high school equivalency
   1-24  certificate.
    2-1        SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
    2-2  applies only to conduct that occurs on or after that date.  Conduct
    2-3  constituting conduct in need of supervision occurs on or after the
    2-4  effective date of this Act only if every element of the conduct
    2-5  occurs on or after that date.
    2-6        (b)  Conduct that occurs before the effective date of this
    2-7  Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the conduct
    2-8  occurred, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
    2-9        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-10  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-11  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-12  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-13  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.