By Grusendorf                                         H.B. No. 1962
         76R6909 WP-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the eligibility of certain persons to obtain a driver's
 1-3     license.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 521.201, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-6     to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 521.201.  LICENSE INELIGIBILITY IN GENERAL.  (a)  The
 1-8     department may not issue any license to a person who:
 1-9                 (1)  is under 15 years of age;
1-10                 (2)  is under 18 years of age unless the person
1-11     complies with the requirements imposed by Section 521.204;
1-12                 (3)  is shown to be addicted to the use of alcohol, a
1-13     controlled substance, or another drug that renders a person
1-14     incapable of driving;
1-15                 (4)  holds a driver's license issued by this state or
1-16     another state or country that is revoked, canceled, or under
1-17     suspension;
1-18                 (5)  has been determined by a judgment of a court to be
1-19     mentally incompetent unless the person has, by the date of the
1-20     license application, been:
1-21                       (A)  restored to competency by judicial decree;
1-22     or
1-23                       (B)  released from a hospital for the mentally
1-24     incompetent on a certificate by the superintendent of the hospital
 2-1     that the person is competent;
 2-2                 (6)  the department determines to be afflicted with a
 2-3     mental or physical disability or disease that prevents the person
 2-4     from exercising reasonable and ordinary control over a motor
 2-5     vehicle while operating the vehicle on a highway, except that:
 2-6                       (A)  a person may not be refused a license
 2-7     because of a physical defect if common experience shows that the
 2-8     defect does not incapacitate a person from safely operating a motor
 2-9     vehicle; and
2-10                       (B)  an insulin dependent diabetic may not
2-11     automatically be denied any class of license, including a
2-12     commercial driver's license;
2-13                 (7)  has been reported by a court under Section 729.003
2-14     for failure to appear or for default in payment of a fine unless
2-15     the court has filed an additional report on final disposition of
2-16     the case; or
2-17                 (8)  has been reported by a court for failure to appear
2-18     or default in payment of a fine for a misdemeanor that is not
2-19     covered under Subdivision (7) and that is punishable by a fine
2-20     only, including a misdemeanor under a municipal ordinance,
2-21     committed by a person who was under 17 years of age at the time of
2-22     the alleged offense, unless the court has filed an additional
2-23     report on final disposition of the case.
2-24           (b)  The department may decide individually the case of each
2-25     person described by Subsection (a)(6)(B), taking into consideration
2-26     factors such as certification by a physician that the person is
2-27     medically able to safely operate a motor vehicle.
 3-1           (c)  A physician who certifies a person as medically able to
 3-2     safely operate a motor vehicle under Subsection (b) is not liable
 3-3     for damages resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle by the
 3-4     person unless the physician was grossly negligent in making the
 3-5     certification.
 3-6           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-7           SECTION 3.  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.