By: Gutierrez, Pitts (Senate Sponsor - Wentworth) H.B. No. 1486
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 2011;
April 29, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on
Transportation and Homeland Security; May 17, 2011, reported
favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 17, 2011,
sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to signs posted under the memorial sign program for
victims of certain vehicle accidents.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 201.909(e), (f), and (g),
Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:
(e) If the application meets the department's requirements
and the applicant pays the memorial sign fee, the department shall
erect a sign. A sign posted under this section may remain posted
for two years [one year]. At the end of the two-year [one-year]
period the department may release the sign to the applicant. The
department is not required to release a sign that has been damaged.
(f) A sign posted under this section that is damaged shall
be removed by the department. Except as provided in Subsection
(g), the department may post a new sign if it has been less than two
years [one year] from the posting of the original sign and a person:
(1) submits a written request to the department to
replace the sign; and
(2) submits a replacement fee in the amount provided
under Subsection (d)(2).
(g) During the two-year [one-year] posting period the
department shall replace a sign posted under this section that is
damaged because of the department's negligence.
SECTION 2. Section 201.909, Transportation Code, applies to
each memorial sign erected under that section, regardless of
whether the sign was erected before, on, or after the effective date
of this Act.
SECTION 3. If the Texas Department of Transportation
determines or is informed by the applicable federal agency that
implementation of Section 201.909, Transportation Code, as amended
by this Act, would result in the loss to the department or this
state of federal funds, the Texas Department of Transportation:
(1) is not required to comply with Section 201.909,
Transportation Code, as amended by this Act, but shall comply with
Section 201.909, Transportation Code, as that section existed
immediately before the effective date of this Act; and
(2) not later than January 1, 2013, shall submit a
report to the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house of
representatives regarding the determination by the department or
the applicable federal agency.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
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