1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to denial of a driver's license to a juvenile for failure

 1-3     to appear in court or pay a fine in connection with a misdemeanor.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 521.201, Transportation Code, is amended

 1-6     to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 521.201.  LICENSE INELIGIBILITY IN GENERAL.  The

 1-8     department may not issue any license to a person who:

 1-9                 (1)  is under 15 years of age;

1-10                 (2)  is under 18 years of age unless the person

1-11     complies with the requirements imposed by Section 521.204;

1-12                 (3)  is shown to be addicted to the use of alcohol, a

1-13     controlled substance, or another drug that renders a person

1-14     incapable of driving;

1-15                 (4)  holds a driver's license issued by this state or

1-16     another state or country that is revoked, canceled, or under

1-17     suspension;

1-18                 (5)  has been determined by a judgment of a court to be

1-19     mentally incompetent unless the person has, by the date of the

1-20     license application, been:

1-21                       (A)  restored to competency by judicial decree;

1-22     or

1-23                       (B)  released from a hospital for the mentally

1-24     incompetent on a certificate by the superintendent of the hospital

 2-1     that the person is competent;

 2-2                 (6)  the department determines to be afflicted with a

 2-3     mental or physical disability or disease that prevents the person

 2-4     from exercising reasonable and ordinary control over a motor

 2-5     vehicle while operating the vehicle on a highway, except that a

 2-6     person may not be refused a license because of a physical defect if

 2-7     common experience shows that the defect does not incapacitate a

 2-8     person from safely operating a motor vehicle; [or]

 2-9                 (7)  has been reported by a court under Section 729.003

2-10     for failure to appear or for default in payment of a fine unless

2-11     the court has filed an additional report on final disposition of

2-12     the case; or

2-13                 (8)  has been reported by a court for failure to appear

2-14     or  default in payment of a fine for a misdemeanor that is not

2-15     covered under Subdivision (7) and that is punishable by a fine

2-16     only, including a misdemeanor under a municipal ordinance,

2-17     committed by a person who was under 17 years of age at the time of

2-18     the alleged offense, unless the court has filed an additional

2-19     report on final disposition of the case.

2-20           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-21           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

         _______________________________     _______________________________

             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House

               I certify that H.B. No. 1055 was passed by the House on May

         15, 1997, by a non-record vote.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Chief Clerk of the House

               I certify that H.B. No. 1055 was passed by the Senate on May

         20, 1997, by a viva-voce vote.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Secretary of the Senate

         APPROVED:  _____________________

                            Date

                    _____________________

                          Governor