Bill Text: TX SB1974 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the issuance of a driver's license, personal identification certificate, or birth record to a homeless individual.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-19 - Referred to State Affairs [SB1974 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB1974-Introduced.html

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86R11674 JAM-D
By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1974

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the issuance of a driver's license, personal
identification certificate, or birth record to a homeless
individual.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 191, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 191.0049 to read as follows:
Sec. 191.0049. BIRTH RECORD ISSUED TO HOMELESS INDIVIDUAL.
(a) In this section, "homeless individual" has the meaning
provided by Section 521.184, Transportation Code.
(b) On request of a homeless individual, the state
registrar, a local registrar, or a county clerk shall issue,
without fee, a certified copy of the individual's birth record to
the individual.
(c) The department by rule shall:
(1) adopt a process to verify a person's status as a
homeless individual; and
(2) prescribe the documentation necessary for the
issuance of a certified copy of a birth record to a homeless
individual.
(d) Notwithstanding any other law of this state, the
department may not require a homeless individual to provide a
physical address of the individual's residence to satisfy any
requirement of this section.
SECTION 2. Subchapter I, Chapter 521, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 521.184 to read as follows:
Sec. 521.184. ISSUANCE OF LICENSE OR CERTIFICATE TO
HOMELESS INDIVIDUAL. (a) In this section, "homeless individual":
(1) means an individual who:
(A) lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate
nighttime residence; or
(B) has a primary nighttime residence that is:
(i) a supervised publicly or privately
operated shelter designed to provide temporary living
accommodations, including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and
transitional housing for the mentally ill;
(ii) an institution that provides a
temporary residence for individuals intended to be
institutionalized; or
(iii) a public or private place not
designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping
accommodation for human beings; and
(2) does not include an individual who is imprisoned
or otherwise detained in a correctional facility.
(b) The department by rule shall:
(1) adopt a process to verify a person's status as a
homeless individual;
(2) prescribe the documentation necessary for the
issuance of a driver's license or personal identification
certificate to a homeless individual; and
(3) exempt a homeless individual from the payment of
fees under this chapter for the issuance of a driver's license or
personal identification certificate.
(c) For each fee exemption granted by the department under
Subsection (b)(3), the department shall deposit to the credit of
the Texas mobility fund the amount of the waived fee that would
otherwise be deposited to that account.
(d) Notwithstanding any other law of this state and to the
extent permitted under federal law, the department may not require
a homeless individual to provide a physical address of the
individual's residence to satisfy any requirement of this chapter.
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply to an
application for a driver's license, personal identification
certificate, or birth record submitted on or after the effective
date of this Act. An application for a driver's license, personal
identification certificate, or birth record submitted before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the application was submitted, and the former law is continued
in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.