1-1     By:  West (Senate Sponsor - Brown)                    H.B. No. 1906
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 1999;
 1-3     May 12,  1999, read first time and referred to Committee on State
 1-4     Affairs; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to special license plates benefiting parks, fisheries, and
 1-9     wildlife.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subchapter F, Chapter 502, Transportation Code,
1-12     is amended by adding Section 502.298 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 502.298.  CONSERVATION LICENSE PLATES.  (a)  The
1-14     department shall issue one or more specially designed conservation
1-15     license plates for  passenger cars and light trucks to support
1-16     Texas Parks and Wildlife Department activities.
1-17           (b)  Each of the license plates must be of a color, quality,
1-18     and design  approved by the  Parks and Wildlife Department.
1-19           (c)  The department shall issue license plates under this
1-20     section to a person who:
1-21                 (1)  applies to the county assessor-collector of the
1-22     county in which the person resides on an original or renewal
1-23     registration application form provided by the department; and
1-24                 (2)  pays an annual fee of $25, in addition to the fee
1-25     prescribed by Section 502.161, and, if personalized prestige
1-26     license plates are issued, in addition to the fee prescribed by
1-27     Section 502.251.
1-28           (d)  Of each $25 fee collected under Subsection (c) or (e),
1-29     the department shall deposit $20 to the credit of the Texas parks
1-30     and wildlife capital account established by Section 11.043, Parks
1-31     and Wildlife Code.  The remaining $5 of the fee may be used by the
1-32     department to defray the cost of administering this section.
1-33           (e)  The fee for replacement of a lost, stolen, or mutilated
1-34     license plate issued under this section is $25, in addition to the
1-35     fee prescribed by Section 502.184(a).
1-36           (f)  If the owner of a vehicle registered under this section
1-37     disposes of the vehicle during the registration year, the owner
1-38     shall return the license plates to the  department.
1-39           (g)  There is no limit to the number of passenger cars or
1-40     light trucks for which a person may apply for the issuance of
1-41     license plates under this section.
1-42           (h)  Money deposited in the Texas parks and wildlife capital
1-43     account under this section is supplementary and is not income for
1-44     the purposes of  reducing general revenue appropriations to the
1-45     Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
1-46           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-47           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-48     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-49     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-50     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-51     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-52                                  * * * * *