By Merritt H.B. No. 1429
76R5305 DWS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to a physician's statement required to obtain disabled
1-3 parking privileges.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 502.253, Transportation Code, is amended
1-6 by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (i) to read as
1-7 follows:
1-8 (e) The first application for registration must be
1-9 accompanied by a written statement of a physician [licensed to
1-10 practice medicine in this state] certifying to the department that
1-11 the person making the application or on whose behalf the
1-12 application is made is legally blind or has a mobility problem that
1-13 substantially impairs the person's ability to ambulate. The
1-14 statement must include a certification of whether a mobility
1-15 problem, if applicable, is temporary or permanent. A written
1-16 statement from a physician is not required as acceptable medical
1-17 proof if:
1-18 (1) the person with a disability:
1-19 (A) has had a limb, hand, or foot amputated; or
1-20 (B) must use a wheelchair; and
1-21 (2) the applicant and the county assessor-collector
1-22 issuing the special license plates execute an affidavit attesting
1-23 to the person's disability.
1-24 (i) The physician's statement under Subsection (e) must be
2-1 from a physician:
2-2 (1) licensed to practice medicine in this state; or
2-3 (2) licensed to practice medicine in a state bordering
2-4 this state and employed by a Veterans Administration medical
2-5 facility.
2-6 SECTION 2. Section 681.003, Transportation Code, is amended
2-7 by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (e) to read as
2-8 follows:
2-9 (c) The first application must be accompanied by a notarized
2-10 written statement or written prescription of a physician [licensed
2-11 to practice medicine in this state] certifying and providing
2-12 evidence acceptable to the department that the person making the
2-13 application or on whose behalf the application is made is legally
2-14 blind or has a mobility problem that substantially impairs the
2-15 person's ability to ambulate. The statement or prescription must
2-16 include a certification of whether the disability is temporary or
2-17 permanent. The department shall determine a person's eligibility
2-18 based on evidence provided by the applicant establishing legal
2-19 blindness or mobility impairment.
2-20 (e) The physician's statement or prescription under
2-21 Subsection (c) must be from a physician:
2-22 (1) licensed to practice medicine in this state; or
2-23 (2) licensed to practice medicine in a state bordering
2-24 this state and employed by a Veterans Administration medical
2-25 facility.
2-26 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-4 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-5 passage, and it is so enacted.