1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the issuance of specially designed Texas license plates
1-3 for Keep Texas Beautiful.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 502, Transportation Code,
1-6 is amended by adding Section 502.2731 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 502.2731. KEEP TEXAS BEAUTIFUL LICENSE PLATES. (a)
1-8 The department shall issue specially designed "Keep Texas
1-9 Beautiful" license plates for passenger cars and light commercial
1-10 motor vehicles having a manufacturer's rated carrying capacity of
1-11 one ton or less. The license plates must include the words "Keep
1-12 Texas Beautiful."
1-13 (b) The department shall design the license plate in
1-14 consultation with Keep Texas Beautiful, Inc.
1-15 (c) The department shall issue license plates under this
1-16 section to a person who:
1-17 (1) applies to the county assessor-collector of the
1-18 county in which the person resides on a form provided by the
1-19 department; and
1-20 (2) pays an annual fee of $50, in addition to the fee
1-21 prescribed by Section 502.161 or Section 502.162 and, if
1-22 personalized prestige license plates are issued, in addition to the
1-23 fee prescribed by Section 502.251.
1-24 (d) The department shall deposit fees collected under this
2-1 section in the state treasury to the credit of the state highway
2-2 fund.
2-3 (e) Forty-five dollars of each fee collected under
2-4 Subsection (c)(2) may be used by the department only for the
2-5 purposes of supporting the department's litter prevention and
2-6 community beautification programs. The remainder of each fee
2-7 collected may be used by the department only to defray the cost of
2-8 administering this section.
2-9 (f) If license plates issued under this section are lost,
2-10 stolen, or mutilated, the owner of the vehicle for which the
2-11 license plates were issued may obtain replacement license plates
2-12 from the department by paying a replacement fee of $5. If the
2-13 owner of a vehicle for which license plates were issued under this
2-14 section disposes of the vehicle during a registration year, the
2-15 person shall return the special license plates to the department.
2-16 (g) There is no limit to the number of passenger cars and
2-17 light commercial motor vehicles for which the person may apply for
2-18 the issuance of license plates under this section.
2-19 SECTION 2. Section 502.252, Transportation Code, is amended
2-20 to read as follows:
2-21 Sec. 502.252. CERTAIN SPECIALIZED PLATES AVAILABLE
2-22 PERSONALIZED. A person applying for license plates under Section
2-23 502.258, 502.259, 502.260, 502.261, 502.262, 502.263, 502.264,
2-24 502.265, 502.269, 502.270, 502.271, 502.272, 502.273, 502.2731, or
2-25 502.274 may:
2-26 (1) have a license plate number assigned by the
2-27 department; or
3-1 (2) apply for personalized prestige license plates
3-2 under Section 502.251.
3-3 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-4 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-8 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. 2681 was passed by the House on May
7, 1997, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 2681 on May 24, 1997, by the
following vote: Yeas 135, Nays 0, 2 present, not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2681 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 22, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor