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.