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.
2-1 * * * * *