By: Ellis, Brown S.B. No. 991
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to permitting certain disabled persons to apply for and
1-2 receive a state parklands passport.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 13.018, Parks and Wildlife Code, is
1-5 amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (e) to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (a) The following people may apply to the department for a
1-8 state parklands passport:
1-9 (1) a resident of this state who is 65 years old or
1-10 over who has resided in the state for six consecutive months
1-11 preceding the date of application for a parklands passport, a
1-12 member of the United States armed forces on active duty who is 65
1-13 years old or over, or any other individual in a category that the
1-14 commission by rule designates as a resident of this state who is 65
1-15 years old or over; [and]
1-16 (2) a veteran of the armed services of the United
1-17 States who, as a result of military service, has a
1-18 service-connected disability, as defined by the Veterans'
1-19 Administration, consisting of the loss of the use of a lower
1-20 extremity or of a 60 percent disability rating and who is receiving
1-21 compensation from the United States because of the disability; and
1-22 (3) an individual who has a physical or mental
1-23 impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life
2-1 activities of the individual.
2-2 (e) The commission by rule shall establish eligibility
2-3 requirements and privileges available to the holder of a state
2-4 parklands passport described by Subsection (a)(3).
2-5 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-10 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-11 passage, and it is so enacted.