Transportation Bill Tracking

85th Legislative Session

The bills below could impact transportation for people with disabilities in Texas.

Transportation Bills — Passed

Transportation bills passed during the 85th Texas Legislature
BILLAUTHORDESCRIPTION, REMARKS, LAST ACTION
HB 100Chris PaddieRelating to the regulation of transportation network companies.
no datano dataRemarks: Provides comprehensive state regulation of the Transportation Network Companies (TNC) like Uber/Lyft, including insurance, fares, identification of drivers and vehicles, methods of payment and receipt, national criminal background checks, bars to employment, passenger behavior, intoxication, and nondiscrimination and accessibility.
no datano dataLast Action: 05-29-17 G Earliest effective date
HB 1434Ron SimmonsRelating to displaying certain informational materials and videos in driver's license offices.
no datano dataRemarks: Requires the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to display informational materials and videos on driving with autism developed by an appropriate entity, as determined by TxDOT.
no datano dataLast Action: 09-01-17 G Earliest effective date
SB 1790Joe PickettRelating to revoked disabled parking placards.
no datano dataRemarks: Allows a person for whom an accessible parking placard was seized to simply reapply rather than the current process which requires a hearing to determine whether the revocation should continue or the placard should be returned to the person.
no datano dataLast Action: 09-01-17 G Earliest effective date
HB 2501Larry PhillipsRelating to insurance requirements for certain non-emergency medical transportation.
no datano dataRemarks: Allows non-emergency medical transportation to be included as insurance benefits provided by Transportation Network Companies like Uber/Lyft.
no datano dataLast Action: 09-01-17 G Earliest effective date
SB 402Judith ZaffiriniRelating to notice provided to persons with disabilities regarding the eligibility of persons with disabilities to use certain public transportation services.
no datano dataRemarks: Requires, as practicable within available resources, public transportation providers to notify individuals with disabilities that they are entitled to use another provider's services for up to 21 days without another application.
no datano dataLast Action: 09-01-17 G Earliest effective date
SB 1051Kirk WatsonRelating to the accommodation of a deaf or hard of hearing student in driver education.
no datano dataRemarks: Requires the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to create a driver education course for teens and adults in American Sign Language.
no datano dataLast Action: 09-01-17 G Earliest effective date

Transportation Bills — Not Passed

Transportation bills not passed during the 85th Texas Legislature
BILLAUTHORDESCRIPTION, REMARKS, LAST ACTION
HB 2979Stephanie KlickRelating to the punishment for certain offenses involving parking in a space designated for persons with disabilities.
no datano dataRemarks: Would have allowed the court to order a person who commits a first offense involving a parking space reserved for people with disabilities to: 1) perform community service at a non-profit organization that serves people with disabilities; 2) perform community service that makes them aware of the needs and obstacles faced by people with disabilities; and 3) attend an educational class on disability awareness and accessible parking.
no datano dataLast Action: 03-22-17 H Introduced and referred to committee on House Transportation
HB 3146Mary GonzalezRelating to a pilot program for providing services to certain children under the Medicaid medical transportation program.
no datano dataRemarks: Would have required HHSC to implement a multi-region pilot for eligible children to receive medical transportation program services and provide reimbursement for those services. The child would have been eligible for inclusion in this program if: 1) the child's mother is a recipient of Medicaid during a pregnancy; 2) the child's mother uses medical transportation program services to travel to and from a covered health care service related to the pregnancy, including postpartum care; and 3) regardless of whether the child is a recipient of Medicaid.
no datano dataLast Action: 04-17-17 H Committee action pending House Human Services
HB 3583John KuempelRelating to operators of motor vehicles who use temporary disabled parking placards.
no datano dataRemarks: Would have required a person using a temporary accessible parking placard to, on request of a peace officer, provide written evidence of the disability of the driver or passenger for whom the placard was issued.
no datano dataLast Action: 04-20-17 H Committee action pending House Transportation
HB 4137Dwayne BohacRelating to the availability of parking spaces at certain facilities for persons with a disability.
no datano dataRemarks: Would have required certain health facilities to have a "sufficient" number of van-accessible parking spaces. Administrative penalties would have been assessed at not more than $1,000 a day.
no datano dataLast Action: 03-31-17 H Introduced and referred to committee on House Public Health
SB 1685Eddie LucioRelating to specialty license plates or stickers for motor vehicles of persons with intellectual disabilities.
no datano dataRemarks: Would have allowed a person with an intellectual disability to pay to put a sticker on their car's license plate identifying the driver as a person with an intellectual disability. Would have also required officer training about how to interact with drivers with an intellectual disability.
no datano dataLast Action: 03-22-17 S Introduced and referred to committee on Senate Transportation
SB 2157Judith ZaffiriniRelating to parking privileges for people with disabilities.
no datano dataRemarks: Would have allowed a judge to waive a parking fine if a person agrees to take an accessible parking course. Would have allowed the issuance of only one parking placard, with exceptions made for children or fully-dependent adults, to a person who has a temporary disability or a person with a permanent disability who has a specialty license. People who would have not qualified for a second placard would have had the ability to request an additional placard at a higher cost. Would have required notification about how to properly use the disabled parking placard.
no datano dataLast Action: 03-29-17 S Introduced and referred to committee on Senate Transportation
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