1-1 By: Nixon S.B. No. 132 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed January 7, 1999; January 28, 1999, 1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs; 1-4 March 8, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee 1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; March 8, 1999, 1-6 sent to printer.) 1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 132 By: Nixon 1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-9 AN ACT 1-10 relating to the requirements for the issuance of special license 1-11 plates or vehicle parking placards to persons with disabilities. 1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-13 SECTION 1. Subsection (e), Section 502.253, Transportation 1-14 Code, is amended to read as follows: 1-15 (e) The first application for registration must be 1-16 accompanied by a written statement of a physician licensed to 1-17 practice medicine in this state or a state adjacent to this state 1-18 certifying to the department that the person making the application 1-19 or on whose behalf the application is made is legally blind or has 1-20 a mobility problem that substantially impairs the person's ability 1-21 to ambulate. The statement must include a certification of whether 1-22 a mobility problem, if applicable, is temporary or permanent. A 1-23 written statement from a physician is not required as acceptable 1-24 medical proof if: 1-25 (1) the person with a disability: 1-26 (A) has had a limb, hand, or foot amputated; or 1-27 (B) must use a wheelchair; and 1-28 (2) the applicant and the county assessor-collector 1-29 issuing the special license plates execute an affidavit attesting 1-30 to the person's disability. 1-31 SECTION 2. Subdivision (5), Section 681.001, Transportation 1-32 Code, is amended to read as follows: 1-33 (5) "Mobility problem that substantially impairs a 1-34 person's ability to ambulate" means that the person: 1-35 (A) cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to 1-36 rest; 1-37 (B) cannot walk without the use of or assistance 1-38 from an assistance device, including a brace, a cane, a crutch, 1-39 another person, or a prosthetic device; 1-40 (C) cannot ambulate without a wheelchair or 1-41 similar device; 1-42 (D) is restricted by lung disease to the extent 1-43 that the person's forced respiratory expiratory volume for one 1-44 second, measured by spirometry, is less than one liter, or the 1-45 arterial oxygen tension is less than 60 millimeters of mercury on 1-46 room air at rest; 1-47 (E) uses portable oxygen; 1-48 (F) has a cardiac condition to the extent that 1-49 the person's functional limitations are classified in severity as 1-50 Class III or Class IV according to standards set by the American 1-51 Heart Association; 1-52 (G) is severely limited in the ability to walk 1-53 because of an arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition; or 1-54 (H) has another debilitating condition that, in 1-55 the opinion of a physician licensed to practice medicine in this 1-56 state or a state adjacent to this state, limits or impairs the 1-57 person's ability to walk. 1-58 SECTION 3. Subsection (c), Section 681.003, Transportation 1-59 Code, is amended to read as follows: 1-60 (c) The first application must be accompanied by a notarized 1-61 written statement or written prescription of a physician licensed 1-62 to practice medicine in this state or a state adjacent to this 1-63 state certifying and providing evidence acceptable to the 1-64 department that the person making the application or on whose 2-1 behalf the application is made is legally blind or has a mobility 2-2 problem that substantially impairs the person's ability to 2-3 ambulate. The statement or prescription must include a 2-4 certification of whether the disability is temporary or permanent. 2-5 The department shall determine a person's eligibility based on 2-6 evidence provided by the applicant establishing legal blindness or 2-7 mobility impairment. 2-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the 2-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-14 passage, and it is so enacted. 2-15 * * * * *