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Several bills were passed during the regular legislative session earlier this year which will assist motorists with disabilities or certain medical conditions.
House Bill 1330 becomes effective January 1, 2004 and helps ensure that law enforcement officers are able to appropriately respond to drivers with medical conditions and disabilities. The new law allows a person to disclose on a drivers license application any medical condition which may impair the person's ability to communicate in certain instances. The supplied information must be verified by written statement from a licensed physician. The information will be printed on the back of the person's drivers license, if space allows, to be seen by an officer during a traffic stop.
To illustrate the reasoning behind this bill, take as an example a person who suffers from diabetes. A person on the verge of a diabetic coma could seem intoxicated initially. Displaying the person's medical condition on the driver's license would enable the officer to identify that condition quickly and call an ambulance, rather than wasting important time performing a roadside test for intoxication.
House Bill 1784 became effective September 1, 2003 and provides that a person commits a crime if the person parks a vehicle so that the vehicle blocks an access aisle designed to aid people with disabilities. An example of an access aisle is the area marked off next to a van-accessible parking space designated for a disabled person. It was already a violation of state law to block a curb ramp with a vehicle. The fine for either of these offenses ranges from $250 to $500 for the first offense.
House Bill 148 explicitly prohibits a person from manufacturing, selling or possessing a placard that is deceptively similar to a disabled parking placard. A violation of this provision results in a Class A misdemeanor. Further, the new law makes it a Class C misdemeanor for a person to knowingly park a vehicle displaying a counterfeit disabled parking placard in a parking spot designated for persons with disabilities. This law also became effective September 1, 2003.
Please feel free to contact my office regarding these new laws or any other issue of state government. You can reach me by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas, 78768-2910 or by e-mail at larry.phillips@house.state..tx.us.
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