H.B. 571 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 571 By: Morrison Transportation Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The society of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) was founded in 1891 to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the men and women who achieved and maintained the independence of Texas. Composed of descendants of Texas pioneers of the Colonial and Republic periods, the organization encourages historical research and the preservation of documents, relics, and historic sites. The society promotes the celebration of Texas Independence Day (March 2) and San Jacinto Day (April 22) as well as other Texas Honor Days; finances publication of historical materials, conducts essay contests and historical programs at schools. The Daughters are custodians of the Alamo (San Antonio), the French Legation (Austin), and a museum in the Old Land Office Building (Austin). C.S.H.B. 571 would create a specialty DRT license plate with the proceeds going toward the preservation of historic Texas sites and/or funding educational programs that teach Texas history. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS This bill would amend Chapter 502 of the Transportation Code to add a special license plate benefitting the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The bill would direct the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to issue specially designed Daughter of the Republic of Texas license plates for passenger cars and light trucks. The plates would have to include the words "Daughters of the Republic of Texas" and be approved by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Plates would be issued by TxDOT to a person applying to the county tax assessorcollector of the county in which the person resides. In addition to the normal registration fees, a person would pay an annual fee of $30, of which $20 would be credited to the newly-created GR Account--Daughters of the Republic of Texas, to be used only by the Texas Department of Economic Development in making grants to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas for the purposes of (1) the preservation of historic Texas sites; or (2) funding educational programs that teach Texas history. The remaining $10 would be deposited to the credit of the State Highway Fund 0006, to be used only to defray the cost of administering this license plate. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2003 COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 571 amends lines 11 and 12 of the original bill to replace the words "Daughters of the Republic of Texas" with "Native Texan". This change reflects the actual intent of the bill. C.S.H.B. 571 also amends line 4 of the original bill to replace the words "the maintenance, repair, and operation of the Alamo" with "(1) the preservation of historic Texas sites; or (2) funding educational programs that teach Texas history."