By: Torres H.B. No. 3153
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to the free admission to state parks for the parents of
deceased members of the armed services
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Amend Chapter 13.018, Parks and Wildlife Code,
as follows:
Sec. 13.018. STATE PARKLANDS PASSPORT. (a) The following
people may apply to the department for a state parklands passport:
(1) a resident of this state who is 65 years old or
over who has resided in the state for six consecutive months
preceding the date of application for a parklands passport, a
member of the United States armed forces on active duty who is 65
years old or over, or any other individual in a category that the
commission by rule designates as a resident of this state who is 65
years old or over;
(2) a veteran of the armed services of the United
States who, as a result of military service, has a
service-connected disability, as defined by the Veterans'
Administration, consisting of the loss of the use of a lower
extremity or of a 60 percent disability rating and who is receiving
compensation from the United States because of the disability; and
(3) an individual who has a physical or mental
impairment activities of the individual. ; and
(4) parents of deceased members of the United States
Armed Forces, who have fallen in combat.
(b) The department shall issue a passport to each qualified
applicant. The passport shall be issued on a form designed and
provided by the department.
(c) The holder of a state parklands passport issued on or
before August 31, 1995, a person whose birth date is before
September 1, 1930, or a veteran described by Subsection (a)(2) is
entitled to enter any state park without payment of an entrance or
admission fee. When a fee is charged by the department for entrance
of a vehicle into a state park, the vehicle of the holder of a state
parklands passport is exempt from the fee when the holder is
present.
(d) The department may discount or waive a park entrance fee
for a resident of this state issued an initial state parklands
passport after August 31, 1995. When a fee is charged by the
department for entrance of a vehicle into a state park, the vehicle
of the holder of an initial state parklands passport may enter any
state park on payment of a lower vehicle entrance fee. The
department may waive vehicle entrance fees for any state park for
the holder of an initial state parklands passport.
(e) The commission by rule shall establish eligibility
requirements and privileges available to the holder of a state
parklands passport described by Subsection (a)(3).
(f) The department shall waive a park entrance fee and any
vehicle admission fee for the holder of state parklands passport
described by subsection (a)(4).
SECTION 2. 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.