| (a) Purpose. Transportation Code, §372.053 provides
that the department may establish a discount program for electronic
toll collection customers that must include free or discounted use
of department toll projects by an electronic toll collection customer
whose account relates to a vehicle registered under Transportation
Code, §504.202 or §504.315(f) or (g). This section implements §372.053.
(b) General. The commission, by minute order, may adopt
a policy defining the circumstances under which free or discounted
passage will be granted on department toll projects, in accordance
with Transportation Code, §372.053. Subsections (c) - (f) of
this section will apply to free or discounted use of department toll
projects by eligible vehicles, as defined by commission minute order.
For purposes of subsections (c) - (f) of this section, the term "owner"
means a veteran who is the registered owner of the eligible vehicle
according to the records of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.
(c) Requirements. To receive free or discounted use
of department toll projects, the owner of an eligible vehicle must
establish an electronic toll collection customer account and register
the eligible vehicle and the tag affixed to that vehicle through a
process prescribed by the department.
(d) Limitation. Free or discounted use of department
toll projects is limited to one eligible vehicle except as provided
by subsection (e) of this section.
(e) Exception for financial hardship. The department
will grant free or discounted use of department toll projects for
one additional eligible vehicle in accordance with this subsection.
The owner of that eligible vehicle must complete and submit to the
department an application, on a form approved by the department, accompanied
by documentation that establishes that the owner is enrolled in Medicaid,
the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary Program, the Specified Low-Income
Medicare Beneficiary Program, or the Qualifying Individual Program,
or is qualified for Supplemental Security Income. On receipt of an
application containing all required information, the department will
grant the hardship exception. To receive free or discounted use of
department toll projects for the additional eligible vehicle, the
owner of the vehicle must register the vehicle and the tag affixed
to that vehicle through a process prescribed by the department. A
hardship exception granted under this subsection is valid for a three-year
period. To extend the exception, the owner must provide proof that
the hardship continues to exist not later than the third anniversary
of the date the hardship exemption was last granted by the department.
Failure to provide proof that the hardship continues to exist by that
date results in expiration of the hardship exception on that date.
(f) Tag fees. Notwithstanding any fee for standard
or specialty tags established under §27.82 of this subchapter
(relating to Toll Operations), the department will provide the tags
required by this section, including replacement tags, at no cost to
the owner of an eligible vehicle that does not have an existing tag.
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