76R10968 JD-D                           
         By Pickett                                            H.B. No. 2768
         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2768:
         By Alexander                                      C.S.H.B. No. 2768
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the issuance of special license plates for passenger
 1-3     cars and light trucks owned by or used for the transportation of
 1-4     veterans with disabilities.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 502.254, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-7     by amending Subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), (g), and (h) and adding
 1-8     Subsection (i) to read as follows:
 1-9           (a)  The department shall issue special license plates for
1-10     passenger cars and light trucks that are owned by veterans [A
1-11     veteran] of the  United States armed forces.  A veteran is entitled
1-12     to register, for the person's own use, one or more passenger cars
1-13     [car] or light trucks under this section [truck without payment of
1-14     a registration fee] if the person:
1-15                 (1)  has suffered, as a result of military service:
1-16                       (A)  at least a 60 percent service-connected
1-17     disability; or
1-18                       (B)  a 40 percent service-connected disability
1-19     because of the amputation of a lower extremity; and
1-20                 (2)  receives compensation from the United States
1-21     because of the disability.
1-22           (b)  An organization may register a motor vehicle under this
1-23     section [without payment of a registration fee] if:
1-24                 (1)  the vehicle is used exclusively to transport
 2-1     veterans of the United States armed forces who have suffered, as a
 2-2     result of military service, a service-connected disability; and
 2-3                 (2)  the veterans are not charged for the
 2-4     transportation.
 2-5           (c)  License [The department shall issue specially designed
 2-6     license] plates issued [for registration] under this section[.  The
 2-7     plates] must include:
 2-8                 (1)  the letters "DV" as a prefix or suffix to the
 2-9     numerals on the plate; and
2-10                 (2)  the words "DISABLED VET."
2-11           (d)  An application for registration under this section must
2-12     be on a form provided by the department and be accompanied by the
2-13     [a] fee prescribed by Subsection (g) [of $3] and evidence required
2-14     by the department that the applicant may register under this
2-15     section.
2-16           (g)  The fee for issuance of license plates under this
2-17     section is:
2-18                 (1)  $3 for the first set of license plates; and
2-19                 (2)  the applicable annual fee prescribed by Section
2-20     502.161 for each additional [After a license plate becomes invalid
2-21     under Subsection (f), the owner may qualify for another] set of
2-22     license plates [under this section].
2-23           (h)  If a [the] plate is canceled under Subsection (f)(1),
2-24     the owner may then register another vehicle under this section
2-25     without charge.
2-26           (i) [(h)]  The department may adopt rules to administer this
2-27     section.
 3-1           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-2           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.