SRC-TNM S.B. 1762 75(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   S.B. 1762
By: Moncrief
Intergovernmental Relations
4-3-97
As Filed


DIGEST 

Currently, officials from law enforcement agencies, volunteer handicap
parking enforcement programs, and tax offices have observed a substantial
amount of misuse of handicap parking placards.  Many handicap license
plates and hang tags have been obtained by applicants filing false
doctor's signatures to receive handicap license plates or hang tags.
People have also been observed using another person's license plate or
hang tag to park in spaces reserved for handicap parking. Because there is
no statewide database to verify to whom the hang tag belongs, laws are
difficult to enforce.  S.B. 1762 would require doctors to sign notarized
written statements to certify a person's eligibility to obtain handicap
parking license plates or hang tags in an attempt to reduce the filing of
applications with false signatures. 

PURPOSE

As proposed, S.B. 1762 outlines provisions regarding enforcement of laws
relating to parking by persons with disabilities. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, institution, or agency. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 521C, Transportation Code, by adding Section
521.0411, as follows: 

Sec. 521.0411. DISABLED PARKING PLACARD RECORDS. Requires the Department
of Public Safety (department) to maintain suitable indexes, in
alphabetical or numerical order, that contain the name and, if applicable,
the driver's license number of each person who has been issued a disabled
parking placard under Chapter 681. 

SECTION 2. Amends Section 681.003(c), Transportation Code, to conform to
Section 1, Chapter 929, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session,
1995, and further amended, as follows: 

(c) Requires the first application to be accompanied by a notarized
written statement of a physician licensed to practice medicine in this
state certifying to the department that the person making the application
or on whose behalf the application is made is legally blind or has a
mobility problem that substantially impairs the person's ability to
ambulate, rather than acceptable medical proof that the operator or
regularly transported passenger has a disability. Requires the statement
to include a certification of whether a mobility problem, if applicable,
is temporary or permanent. 

SECTION 3. Amends Chapter 681, Transportation Code, by adding Section
681.0031, as follows: 

Sec. 681.0031. APPLICANT'S DRIVER'S LICENSE NUMBER. Requires the applicant
for a disabled parking placard to include the applicant's driver's license
number on the application if the applicant holds a driver's license.
Requires the department to provide for this information in prescribing the
application form.  Requires the county assessor-collector to record the
applicant's driver's license number on any disabled parking placard issued
to the applicant if the application contains the applicant's driver's
license number. 
 
SECTION 4. Amends Chapter 681.006, Transportation Code, by adding
Subsection (e), to provide that this section does not permit  the owner of
a vehicle to be exempt from payment of fees or penalties imposed by
governmental units for parking in parking garages or other parking lots
located within the boundaries of municipal airports. 

SECTION 5. Provides that, in addition to the substantive changes in law
made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to changes in
law made by Section 1, Chapter 929, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular
Session, 1995. 

SECTION 6. Effective date: September 1, 1997.

SECTION 7. Emergency clause.