Bill Text: TX HB90 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to the issuance and suspension of a hardship driver's license.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/11 [HB90 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HB90-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to the issuance and suspension of a hardship driver's license.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/11 [HB90 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HB90-Comm_Sub.html
By: Cook (Senate Sponsor - Birdwell) | H.B. No. 90 | |
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 4, 2011; | ||
May 5, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on | ||
Transportation and Homeland Security; May 21, 2011, reported | ||
favorably by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 21, 2011, sent | ||
to printer.) |
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relating to eligibility to obtain a driver's license. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as Aaron's Act. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 521.201, Transportation Code, is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 521.201. LICENSE INELIGIBILITY IN GENERAL. (a) The | ||
department may not issue any license to a person who: | ||
(1) is under 15 years of age; | ||
(2) is under 18 years of age unless the person complies | ||
with the requirements imposed by Section 521.204; | ||
(3) is shown to be addicted to the use of alcohol, a | ||
controlled substance, or another drug that renders a person | ||
incapable of driving; | ||
(4) holds a driver's license issued by this state or | ||
another state or country that is revoked, canceled, or under | ||
suspension; | ||
(5) has been determined by a judgment of a court to be | ||
totally incapacitated or incapacitated to act as the operator of a | ||
motor vehicle unless the person has, by the date of the license | ||
application, been: | ||
(A) restored to capacity by judicial decree; or | ||
(B) released from a hospital for the mentally | ||
incapacitated on a certificate by the superintendent or | ||
administrator of the hospital that the person has regained | ||
capacity; | ||
(6) the department determines to be afflicted with a | ||
mental or physical disability or disease that prevents the person | ||
from exercising reasonable and ordinary control over a motor | ||
vehicle while operating the vehicle on a highway, except that a | ||
person may not be refused a license because of a physical defect if | ||
common experience shows that the defect does not incapacitate a | ||
person from safely operating a motor vehicle; | ||
(7) has been reported by a court under Section | ||
521.3452 for failure to appear unless the court has filed an | ||
additional report on final disposition of the case; [ |
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(8) has been reported by a court for failure to appear | ||
or default in payment of a fine for a misdemeanor that is not | ||
covered under Subdivision (7) and that is punishable by a fine only, | ||
including a misdemeanor under a municipal ordinance, committed by a | ||
person who was under 17 years of age at the time of the alleged | ||
offense, unless the court has filed an additional report on final | ||
disposition of the case; or | ||
(9) except as provided by Section 521.207, is younger | ||
than 24 years of age and: | ||
(A) has not obtained a high school diploma or its | ||
equivalent; or | ||
(B) is a student: | ||
(i) enrolled in a public school or private | ||
school, including a home school, who attended school for at least 80 | ||
days in the fall or spring semester preceding the date of the | ||
driver's license application; or | ||
(ii) who has been enrolled for at least 45 | ||
days, and is enrolled as of the date of the application, in a | ||
program to prepare persons to pass the high school equivalency | ||
exam. | ||
(b) Subsection (a)(9) does not apply to the renewal of a | ||
license issued before January 1, 2012. | ||
SECTION 3. Subchapter J, Chapter 521, Transportation Code, | ||
is amended by adding Section 521.207 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 521.207. RESTRICTIONS ON CERTAIN PERSONS WITHOUT HIGH | ||
SCHOOL DIPLOMA OR EQUIVALENT. (a) The department may issue a | ||
restricted license to an applicant who is younger than 24 years of | ||
age and who has not obtained a high school diploma or its equivalent | ||
that allows the holder to travel between the holder's residence and | ||
another place for the purpose of: | ||
(1) school; | ||
(2) work; | ||
(3) any school-sponsored educational or athletic | ||
activity; | ||
(4) any non-school-sponsored community service or | ||
volunteer activity; | ||
(5) religious services; | ||
(6) essential household duties, including obtaining | ||
child care; and | ||
(7) obtaining emergency medical care. | ||
(b) The department shall adopt rules to implement this | ||
section, including: | ||
(1) defining types of acceptable documentation of | ||
obtaining a high school diploma or its equivalent, including | ||
documentation from the applicant's parent or a person standing in | ||
parental relation; and | ||
(2) designing a license with a marking to indicate the | ||
restricted status described by this section. | ||
SECTION 4. Section 521.223, Transportation Code, is amended | ||
by amending Subsections (b), (c), and (f) and adding Subsections | ||
(b-1) and (c-1) to read as follows: | ||
(b) An applicant for a license under Subsection (a) must be | ||
15 years and 180 days of age or older and must: | ||
(1) except as provided by Subsection (b-1), have | ||
passed a driver education course approved by the department, which | ||
may be a course approved under Section 521.205; and | ||
(2) pass the examination required by Section 521.161. | ||
(b-1) An applicant for a license to operate a farm vehicle | ||
under Subsection (a) must have passed a driver education course | ||
approved by the department, which may be a course approved under | ||
Section 521.205. | ||
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (c-1), to [ |
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eligible to take the driver education [ |
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Subsection (b)(1), the person must be at least 15 [ |
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(c-1) To be eligible to take the driver training course to | ||
obtain a license to operate a farm vehicle, the person must be at | ||
least 14 years of age. | ||
(f) In the manner provided by Subchapter N, the department | ||
shall [ |
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holder of the license is convicted of a moving violation. | ||
SECTION 5. Section 521.223(d), Transportation Code, is | ||
repealed. | ||
SECTION 6. The change in law made by this Act applies only | ||
to the issuance of a hardship license on or after the effective date | ||
of this Act. The issuance of a hardship license before the | ||
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect | ||
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is | ||
continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. | ||
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