By Pickett                                            H.B. No. 1819
         76R6343 WP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to requiring new license plates for vehicles every five
 1-3     years.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 502.180(b), Transportation Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  The department shall issue a new [only one] license
 1-8     plate or set of plates for a vehicle at least once every five years
 1-9     [during a five-year period].  A license plate or set of plates may
1-10     not be used on a vehicle for a period exceeding five years.
1-11           SECTION 2.  The Texas Department of Transportation by rule
1-12     shall provide for the staggered expiration of license plates under
1-13     Chapter 502, Transportation Code, so that a proportionate number of
1-14     license plates expire each year.  The fee for a license plate or
1-15     set of plates issued for a period other than the period provided by
1-16     that chapter shall be prorated accordingly.
1-17           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-18           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-19     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-20     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-21     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-22     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.