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.