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