By:  Moncrief                                         S.B. No. 1762

         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.

         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to enforcement of laws relating to parking by persons with

 1-2     disabilities.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 521, Transportation Code,

 1-5     is amended by adding Section 521.0411 to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 521.0411.  DISABLED PARKING PLACARD RECORDS.  The

 1-7     department shall maintain suitable indexes, in alphabetical or

 1-8     numerical order, that contain the name and, if applicable, the

 1-9     driver's license number of each person who has been issued a

1-10     disabled parking placard under Chapter 681.

1-11           SECTION 2.  Section 681.003(c), Transportation Code, is

1-12     amended to conform to Section 1, Chapter 929, Acts of the 74th

1-13     Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, and further amended to read as

1-14     follows:

1-15           (c)  The first application must be accompanied by a notarized

1-16     written statement of a physician licensed to practice medicine in

1-17     this state certifying to the department [acceptable medical proof]

1-18     that the person making the application or on whose behalf the

1-19     application is made is legally blind or has a mobility problem that

1-20     substantially impairs the person's ability to ambulate.  The

1-21     statement must include a certification of whether a mobility

 2-1     problem, if applicable, is temporary or permanent [operator or

 2-2     regularly transported passenger has a disability].  A written

 2-3     statement from a physician is not required as acceptable medical

 2-4     proof if:

 2-5                 (1)  the person with a disability:

 2-6                       (A)  has had a limb, hand, or foot amputated; or

 2-7                       (B)  must use a wheelchair; and

 2-8                 (2)  the applicant and the county assessor-collector

 2-9     issuing the disabled parking placard execute an affidavit attesting

2-10     to the person's disability.

2-11           SECTION 3.  Chapter 681, Transportation Code, is amended by

2-12     adding Section 681.0031 to read as follows:

2-13           Sec. 681.0031.  APPLICANT'S DRIVER'S LICENSE NUMBER.  (a)  If

2-14     the applicant for a disabled parking placard holds a driver's

2-15     license, the applicant shall include the applicant's driver's

2-16     license number on the application.  The department shall provide

2-17     for this information in prescribing the application form.

2-18           (b)  If the application contains the applicant's driver's

2-19     license number, the county assessor-collector shall record the

2-20     number on any disabled parking placard issued to the applicant.

2-21           SECTION 4.  Chapter 681.006, Transportation Code is amended

2-22     by adding a new subsection (e) to read as follows:

2-23           (e)  This section does not permit the owner of a vehicle to

2-24     be exempt from payment of fees or penalties imposed by governmental

2-25     units for parking in parking garages or other parking lots located

 3-1     within the boundaries of municipal airports.

 3-2           SECTION 5.  In addition to the substantive changes in law

 3-3     made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to

 3-4     changes in law made by Section 1, Chapter 929, Acts of the 74th

 3-5     Legislature, Regular Session, 1995.

 3-6           SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 3-7           SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the

 3-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.