1-1     By:  Armbrister                                        S.B. No. 322

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed January 28, 1997; February 3, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;

 1-4     April 16, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 4,

 1-5     Nays 0; April 16, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the filing of a petition stating an essential need for

 1-9     operating a motor vehicle.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsections (a) and (b), Section 521.242,

1-12     Transportation Code, are amended to conform to Section 75, Chapter

1-13     318, Acts of the 74th Legislature, 1995, and further amended to

1-14     read as follows:

1-15           (a)  A person whose license has been suspended for a cause

1-16     other than a physical or mental disability or impairment or a

1-17     conviction under Section 49.04 [or 49.07], Penal Code, may apply

1-18     for an occupational license by filing a verified petition with the

1-19     clerk [judge] of the county court or district court with

1-20     jurisdiction in the county in which:

1-21                 (1)  the person resides; or

1-22                 (2)  the offense occurred for which the license was

1-23     suspended.

1-24           (b)  A person may apply for an occupational license by filing

1-25     a verified petition only with the clerk [judge] of the county court

1-26     or district court in which the person was convicted if:

1-27                 (1)  the person's license has been automatically

1-28     suspended or canceled under this chapter or Chapter 522 for a

1-29     conviction of an offense under the laws of this state [Section

1-30     49.04 or 49.07, Penal Code]; and

1-31                 (2)  the person has not been issued, in the 10 years

1-32     preceding the date of the filing of the petition, more than one

1-33     occupational license after a conviction under the laws of this

1-34     state [Section 49.04 or 49.07, Penal Code, or Article 6701l-2,

1-35     Revised Statutes, as that law existed before January 1, 1984].

1-36           SECTION 2.  Section 521.242, Transportation Code, is amended

1-37     by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:

1-38           (e)  The clerk of the court shall file the petition as in any

1-39     other civil matter.

1-40           SECTION 3.  In addition to the substantive changes in law

1-41     made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to

1-42     changes in law made by Section 75, Chapter 318, Acts of the 74th

1-43     Legislature, 1995.

1-44           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-45           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-46     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-47     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-48     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-49     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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