By: Haywood S.B. No. 1583
99S0570/1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to driver's license eligibility and to certain
1-2 restrictions on the use of a motor vehicle.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 521.2465, Transportation Code, is amended
1-5 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 521.2465. ESSENTIAL NEED [RESTRICTED] LICENSE. (a) On
1-7 receipt of a court order [notice] that a person has been restricted
1-8 to the use of a motor vehicle equipped with an ignition interlock
1-9 device, the department shall notify that person that the person's
1-10 driver's license will be canceled [expires] on the 30th day after
1-11 the date of the notice. On receipt of a copy of a court order
1-12 granting an occupational license, evidence of financial
1-13 responsibility in accordance with Chapter 601, [application by the
1-14 person] and payment of a fee of $10, the department shall issue an
1-15 occupational [a special restricted] license that authorizes the
1-16 person to operate only a motor vehicle equipped with an ignition
1-17 interlock device.
1-18 (b) On the expiration of a court-ordered restriction
1-19 provided by this section or receipt of a copy of a court order
1-20 removing the restriction, the department may reissue [shall issue]
1-21 the person a driver's license without the restriction.
1-22 SECTION 2. Section 521.201, Transportation Code, is amended
1-23 to read as follows:
1-24 Sec. 521.201. License Ineligibility in General. The
2-1 department may not issue or renew any license to a person [who]:
2-2 (1) who is under 15 years of age;
2-3 (2) who is under 18 years of age unless the person
2-4 complies with the requirements imposed by Section 521.204;
2-5 (3) who is shown to be addicted to the use of alcohol,
2-6 a controlled substance, or another drug that renders a person
2-7 incapable of driving;
2-8 (4) whose [holds a] driver's license or driving
2-9 privilege has been denied, [issued by this state or another state
2-10 or country that is] revoked, canceled, or suspended by this state
2-11 or another state or country [under suspension];
2-12 (5) who has been determined by a judgment of a court
2-13 to be mentally incompetent unless the person has, by the date of
2-14 the license application, been:
2-15 (A) restored to competency by judicial decree;
2-16 or
2-17 (B) released from a hospital for the mentally
2-18 incompetent on a certificate by the superintendent of the hospital
2-19 that the person is competent;
2-20 (6) who the department determines to be afflicted with
2-21 a mental or physical disability or disease that prevents the person
2-22 from exercising reasonable and ordinary control over a motor
2-23 vehicle while operating the vehicle on a highway, except that a
2-24 person may not be refused a license because of a physical defect if
2-25 common experience shows that the defect does not incapacitate a
2-26 person from safely operating a motor vehicle;
3-1 (7) who has been reported by a court under Section
3-2 729.003 for failure to appear or for default in payment of a fine
3-3 unless the court has filed an additional report on final
3-4 disposition of the case; or
3-5 (8) who has been reported by a court for failure to
3-6 appear or default in payment of a fine for a misdemeanor that is
3-7 not covered under Subdivision (7) and that is punishable by a fine
3-8 only, including a misdemeanor under a municipal ordinance,
3-9 committed by a person who was under 17 years of age at the time of
3-10 the alleged offense, unless the court has filed an additional
3-11 report on final disposition of the case.
3-12 SECTION 3. Subsections (b) and (d), Section 521.242,
3-13 Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:
3-14 (b) A person may apply for an occupational license by filing
3-15 a verified petition only with the clerk of the county court or
3-16 district court in which the person was convicted or restricted to
3-17 the operation of a motor vehicle equipped with an ignition
3-18 interlock device if:
3-19 (1) the person's license has been automatically
3-20 suspended or canceled under this chapter or Chapter 522 for a
3-21 conviction of an offense under the laws of this state or after an
3-22 ignition interlock device requirement in this state; and
3-23 (2) the person has not been issued, in the 10 years
3-24 preceding the date of the filing of the petition, more than one
3-25 occupational license after a conviction under the laws of this
3-26 state or after an ignition interlock device requirement in this
4-1 state.
4-2 (d) A petition filed under Subsection (b) must state that
4-3 the petitioner was convicted or restricted to the operation of a
4-4 motor vehicle equipped with an ignition interlock device in that
4-5 court for an offense under the laws of this state.
4-6 SECTION 4. Subsection (b), Section 521.248, Transportation
4-7 Code, is amended to read as follows:
4-8 (b) The person may not operate a motor vehicle for more than
4-9 four hours in any 24-hour period, except that:
4-10 (1) on a showing of necessity, the court may allow the
4-11 person to drive for any period determined by the court that does
4-12 not exceed 12 hours in any 24-hour period; or
4-13 (2) the court may allow the person to drive for an
4-14 unlimited time period when operating a motor vehicle equipped with
4-15 an ignition interlock device.
4-16 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-17 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
4-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.