By Coleman                                       H.B. No. 580

      75R2777 DWS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to enforcement of laws relating to parking by persons with

 1-3     disabilities.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 521, Transportation Code,

 1-6     is amended by adding Section 521.0411 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 521.0411.  DISABLED PARKING PLACARD RECORDS.   The

 1-8     department shall maintain suitable indexes, in alphabetical or

 1-9     numerical order, that contain the name and, if applicable, the

1-10     driver's license number of each person who has been issued a

1-11     disabled parking placard under Chapter 681.

1-12           SECTION 2.  Section 681.003(c), Transportation Code, is

1-13     amended to conform to Section 1, Chapter 929, Acts of the 74th

1-14     Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, and further amended to read as

1-15     follows:

1-16           (c)  The first application must be accompanied by a notarized

1-17     written statement of a physician licensed to practice medicine in

1-18     this state certifying to the department [acceptable medical proof]

1-19     that the person making the application or on whose behalf the

1-20     application is made is legally blind or has a mobility problem that

1-21     substantially impairs the person's ability to ambulate.  The

1-22     statement must include a certification of whether a mobility

1-23     problem, if applicable, is temporary or permanent [operator or

1-24     regularly transported passenger has a disability].  A written

 2-1     statement from a physician is not required as acceptable medical

 2-2     proof if:

 2-3                 (1)  the person with a disability:

 2-4                       (A)  has had a limb, hand, or foot amputated; or

 2-5                       (B)  must use a wheelchair; and

 2-6                 (2)  the applicant and the county assessor-collector

 2-7     issuing the disabled parking placard execute an affidavit attesting

 2-8     to the person's disability.

 2-9           SECTION 3.  Chapter 681, Transportation Code, is amended by

2-10     adding Section 681.0031 to read as follows:

2-11           Sec. 681.0031.  APPLICANT'S DRIVER'S LICENSE NUMBER.  (a)  If

2-12     the applicant for a disabled parking placard holds a driver's

2-13     license, the applicant shall include the applicant's driver's

2-14     license number on the application.  The department shall provide

2-15     for this information in prescribing the application form.

2-16           (b)  If the application contains the applicant's driver's

2-17     license number, the county assessor-collector shall record the

2-18     number on any disabled parking placard issued to the applicant.

2-19           SECTION 4.  In addition to the substantive changes in law

2-20     made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to

2-21     changes in law made by Section 1, Chapter 929, Acts of the 74th

2-22     Legislature, Regular Session, 1995.

2-23           SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-24           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.