By Haywood S.B. No. 67 76R2446 DRH-F A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the requirements for the issuance of special license 1-3 plates or vehicle parking placards to persons with disabilities. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Section 502.253(e), Transportation Code, is 1-6 amended to read as follows: 1-7 (e) The first application for registration must be 1-8 accompanied by a written statement of a physician who is licensed 1-9 to practice medicine in this state or is on active duty in the 1-10 armed forces of the United States certifying to the department that 1-11 the person making the application or on whose behalf the 1-12 application is made is legally blind or has a mobility problem that 1-13 substantially impairs the person's ability to ambulate. The 1-14 statement must include a certification of whether a mobility 1-15 problem, if applicable, is temporary or permanent. A written 1-16 statement from a physician is not required as acceptable medical 1-17 proof if: 1-18 (1) the person with a disability: 1-19 (A) has had a limb, hand, or foot amputated; or 1-20 (B) must use a wheelchair; and 1-21 (2) the applicant and the county assessor-collector 1-22 issuing the special license plates execute an affidavit attesting 1-23 to the person's disability. 1-24 SECTION 2. Section 681.003(c), Transportation Code, is 2-1 amended to read as follows: 2-2 (c) The first application must be accompanied by a notarized 2-3 written statement or written prescription of a physician who is 2-4 licensed to practice medicine in this state or is on active duty in 2-5 the armed forces of the United States certifying and providing 2-6 evidence acceptable to the department that the person making the 2-7 application or on whose behalf the application is made is legally 2-8 blind or has a mobility problem that substantially impairs the 2-9 person's ability to ambulate. The statement or prescription must 2-10 include a certification of whether the disability is temporary or 2-11 permanent. The department shall determine a person's eligibility 2-12 based on evidence provided by the applicant establishing legal 2-13 blindness or mobility impairment. 2-14 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-19 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-20 passage, and it is so enacted.