BILL ANALYSIS
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Senate Research Center |
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AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Chiropractors, as well as other health care providers, treat patients with conditions that affect mobility, but do not handle requests for specialized license plates and parking placards for the vehicles of a person with a mobility problem. Minimizing the number of health care providers that a patient must visit in order to make this request may reduce costs incurred by the patient in terms of money, time, and additional pain. H.B. 1683 addresses this issue by authorizing chiropractors licensed in Texas and adjacent states to complete a request for specialized license plates and parking placards for the vehicle of a person with a mobility problem.
H.B. 1683 amends current law relating to parking placards for vehicles of persons with disabilities.
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 Section 681.003, Transportation Code, by amending Subsections (b) and (e) and adding Subsection (h) as follows:
(b) Requires that an application for a disabled parking placard be:
(1) on a form furnished by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles;
(2) submitted to the county assessor-collector of the county:
(A) in which the person with the disability resides if the person has a permanent disability; or
(B) in which the person with the disability resides or is being treated at a medical facility if the person has a temporary disability; and
(3) Makes no changes to this subdivision.
(e) Provides that if a first application for a disabled parking placard under this section is made by or on behalf of a person with:
(1) Makes no changes to this subdivision;
(2) a disability caused by an impairment of vision as provided by Section 681.001(2) (defining "disability"), the notarized written statement or written prescription required by Subsection (c) (relating to disability parking placard application criteria) may be issued by a person licensed to engage in the practice of optometry or the practice of therapeutic optometry in this state or a state adjacent to this state; or
(3) a temporary mobility problem that substantially impairs the person's ability to ambulate, the notarized written statement or written prescription required by Subsection (c) may be issued by a person licensed to practice chiropractic in this state or a state adjacent to this state.
(h) Defines, in this section, "chiropractic."
SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2011.