By Armbrister                                    S.B. No. 322

      75R2455 DWS-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the filing of a petition stating an essential need for

 1-3     operating a motor vehicle.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Sections 521.242(a) and (b), Transportation Code,

 1-6     are amended to conform to Section 75, Chapter 318, Acts of the 74th

 1-7     Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, and further amended to read as

 1-8     follows:

 1-9           (a)  A person whose license has been suspended for a cause

1-10     other than a physical or mental disability or impairment or a

1-11     conviction under Section 49.04 [or 49.07], Penal Code, may apply

1-12     for an occupational license by filing a verified petition with the

1-13     clerk [judge] of the county court or district court with

1-14     jurisdiction in the county in which:

1-15                 (1)  the person resides; or

1-16                 (2)  the offense occurred for which the license was

1-17     suspended.

1-18           (b)  A person may apply for an occupational license by filing

1-19     a verified petition only with the clerk [judge] of the county court

1-20     or district court in which the person was convicted if:

1-21                 (1)  the person's license has been automatically

1-22     suspended or canceled under this chapter or Chapter 522 for a

1-23     conviction of an offense under the laws of this state [Section

1-24     49.04 or 49.07, Penal Code]; and

 2-1                 (2)  the person has not been issued, in the 10 years

 2-2     preceding the date of the filing of the petition, more than one

 2-3     occupational license after a conviction under the laws of this

 2-4     state [Section 49.04 or 49.07, Penal Code, or Article 6701l-2,

 2-5     Revised  Statutes, as that law existed before January 1, 1984].

 2-6           SECTION 2.  Section 521.242, Transportation Code, is amended

 2-7     by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:

 2-8           (e)  The clerk of the court shall file the petition as in any

 2-9     other civil matter.

2-10           SECTION 3.  In addition to the substantive changes in law

2-11     made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to

2-12     changes in law made by Section 75, Chapter 318, Acts of the 74th

2-13     Legislature, Regular Session, 1995.

2-14           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-15           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.