SRC-SEW S.B. 1563 77(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   S.B. 1563
77R5028 MTB-DBy: Shapleigh
State Affairs
3/22/2001
As Filed


DIGEST AND PURPOSE 

The mission of the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is to
eliminate communication barriers and to guarantee equal access for people
who are deaf or hard of hearing.  As proposed, S.B. 1563 requires the Texas
Department of Transportation to issue a specially designed Texas Commission
for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (commission) license plate and requires
that the majority of the fee collected for these plates be appropriated to
the commission for direct services programs, training, and education. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a
state officer, institution, or agency. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Chapter 502F, Transportation Code, by adding Section
502.2735, as follows: 

Sec. 502.2735.  TEXAS COMMISSION FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING LICENSE
PLATES. (a) Requires the Texas Department of Transportation (department) to
issue specially designed Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
license plates for passenger cars and light trucks. 

(b)  Requires the department to design the license plates in consultation
with the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. 

(c)  Requires the department to issue license plates under this section to
a person who meets certain requirements. 

(d)  Requires $5 of each fee collected under Subsection (c) to be used by
the department only to defray the cost of administering this section. 

(e)  Requires the remainder of each fee collected to be deposited to the
credit of the general revenue fund and authorizes the remainder to be
appropriated only to the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
for direct services programs, training, and education. 
 
(f)  Requires the owner, if the owner of a vehicle for which license plates
were issued under this section disposes of the vehicle during a
registration year, to return the special license plates to the department. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date:  September 1, 2001.