1-1     By:  Pickett (Senate Sponsor - Shapleigh)             H.B. No. 2768
 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 Veteran
 1-4     Affairs and Military Installations; May 13, 1999, reported
 1-5     favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 3, Nays 0; May 13, 1999,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-8                                   AN ACT
 1-9     relating to the issuance of special license plates for passenger
1-10     cars and light trucks owned by or used for the transportation of
1-11     veterans with disabilities.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Section 502.254, Transportation Code, is amended
1-14     by amending Subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), (g), and (h) and adding
1-15     Subsection (i) to read as follows:
1-16           (a)  The department shall issue special license plates for
1-17     passenger cars and light trucks that are owned by veterans [A
1-18     veteran] of the  United States armed forces.  A veteran is entitled
1-19     to register, for the person's own use, one or more passenger cars
1-20     [car] or light trucks under this section [truck without payment of
1-21     a registration fee] if the person:
1-22                 (1)  has suffered, as a result of military service:
1-23                       (A)  at least a 60 percent service-connected
1-24     disability; or
1-25                       (B)  a 40 percent service-connected disability
1-26     because of the amputation of a lower extremity; and
1-27                 (2)  receives compensation from the United States
1-28     because of the disability.
1-29           (b)  An organization may register a motor vehicle under this
1-30     section [without payment of a registration fee] if:
1-31                 (1)  the vehicle is used exclusively to transport
1-32     veterans of the United States armed forces who have suffered, as a
1-33     result of military service, a service-connected disability; and
1-34                 (2)  the veterans are not charged for the
1-35     transportation.
1-36           (c)  License [The department shall issue specially designed
1-37     license] plates issued [for registration] under this section[.  The
1-38     plates] must include:
1-39                 (1)  the letters "DV" as a prefix or suffix to the
1-40     numerals on the plate; and
1-41                 (2)  the words "DISABLED VET."
1-42           (d)  An application for registration under this section must
1-43     be on a form provided by the department and be accompanied by the
1-44     [a] fee prescribed by Subsection (g) [of $3] and evidence required
1-45     by the department that the applicant may register under this
1-46     section.
1-47           (g)  The fee for issuance of license plates under this
1-48     section is:
1-49                 (1)  $3 for the first set of license plates; and
1-50                 (2)  the applicable annual fee prescribed by Section
1-51     502.161 for each additional [After a license plate becomes invalid
1-52     under Subsection (f), the owner may qualify for another] set of
1-53     license plates [under this section].
1-54           (h)  If a [the] plate is canceled under Subsection (f)(1),
1-55     the owner may then register another vehicle under this section
1-56     without charge.
1-57           (i) [(h)]  The department may adopt rules to administer this
1-58     section.
1-59           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-60           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-61     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-62     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-63     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-64     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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