BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1635

By: Davis

Defense & Veterans' Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The fund for veterans' assistance provides grants to local government and nonprofit organizations to enhance or improve veterans' assistance programs that address the needs of veterans and their families.  An individual can make voluntary contributions to the fund by indicating the donation on his or her vehicle registration form.

S.B. 1635 seeks, among other provisions, to ensure that these contributions be used only for grants from the fund by requiring the notice of the ability to contribute to the fund to be on the same page as the individual's total registration fee and that a person who registers a vehicle online has the ability to contribute on the TxDMV website.

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

S.B. 1635 amends the Transportation Code to specify that a contribution made to the fund for veterans' assistance may be used only for the purposes of the fund. The bill requires the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) to do the following: include space in a specified place on each motor vehicle registration renewal notice that allows a person renewing a registration to indicate the amount that the person is voluntarily contributing to the fund for veterans' assistance; provide an opportunity to contribute in a certain manner to the fund for veterans' assistance that is similar to the opportunity to contribute during the initial registration of a motor vehicle, in any registration renewal system that succeeds the system in place on September 1, 2011; and provide an opportunity for a person to contribute to the fund for veterans' assistance during the registration renewal process on the department's Internet website.

S.B. 1635 authorizes the county assessor-collector, if a person makes such a contribution and does not pay the full amount of a registration fee, to credit all or a portion of the contribution to the person's registration fee. The bill requires TxDMV to consult with the Texas Veterans Commission in performing the department's duties under the bill's provisions. The bill makes its provisions applicable only to a motor vehicle registration renewal notice issued for a registration that expires on or after January 1, 2012.

S.B. 1635 reenacts and amends Section 434.017(a), Government Code, as amended by Chapters 840 (S.B. 1940) and 1385 (S.B. 1655), Acts of the 81st Legislature, Regular Session, 2009, to make nonsubstantive technical changes.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2011.