1-1 By: Ellis, Brown S.B. No. 991
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 6, 1997; March 11, 1997, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
1-4 April 28, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9,
1-5 Nays 0; April 28, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to permitting certain disabled persons to apply for and
1-9 receive a state parklands passport.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 13.018, Parks and Wildlife Code, is
1-12 amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (e) to
1-13 read as follows:
1-14 (a) The following people may apply to the department for a
1-15 state parklands passport:
1-16 (1) a resident of this state who is 65 years old or
1-17 over who has resided in the state for six consecutive months
1-18 preceding the date of application for a parklands passport, a
1-19 member of the United States armed forces on active duty who is 65
1-20 years old or over, or any other individual in a category that the
1-21 commission by rule designates as a resident of this state who is 65
1-22 years old or over; [and]
1-23 (2) a veteran of the armed services of the United
1-24 States who, as a result of military service, has a
1-25 service-connected disability, as defined by the Veterans'
1-26 Administration, consisting of the loss of the use of a lower
1-27 extremity or of a 60 percent disability rating and who is receiving
1-28 compensation from the United States because of the disability; and
1-29 (3) an individual who has a physical or mental
1-30 impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life
1-31 activities of the individual.
1-32 (e) The commission by rule shall establish eligibility
1-33 requirements and privileges available to the holder of a state
1-34 parklands passport described by Subsection (a)(3).
1-35 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
1-36 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-37 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-38 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-39 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-40 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-41 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-42 * * * * *