By Nelson                                             S.B. No. 1017
         76R1691 DWS-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to information collected and used in connection with a
 1-3     driver's license.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter F, Chapter 521, Transportation Code,
 1-6     is amended by adding Section 521.126 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 521.126.  ELECTRONICALLY READABLE INFORMATION.  The
 1-8     department may not include any information on a driver's license in
 1-9     an  electronically readable form.
1-10           SECTION 2.  Sections 521.142(b) and (e), Transportation Code,
1-11     are amended to read as follows:
1-12           (b)  The application must include[:]
1-13                 [(1)  the thumbprints of the applicant or, if
1-14     thumbprints cannot be taken, the index fingerprints of the
1-15     applicant; and]
1-16                 [(2)]  a brief description of the applicant.
1-17           (e)  The application must include any other information the
1-18     department requires to determine the applicant's identity,
1-19     competency, and eligibility, except that the department may not
1-20     require an applicant to provide the applicant's thumbprint or
1-21     fingerprint.
1-22           SECTION 3.  This Act applies only to a driver's license for
1-23     which an original or renewal application is submitted on or after
1-24     the effective date of this Act.
 2-1           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-2           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.