Bill Caption

Relating to the removal of a fee for the issuance of an original, duplicate, or renewed license to carry.

Bill Analysis

Current law provides for certain fees the Texas Department of Public Safety must charge when issuing an original, duplicate, or replacement Capitol access pass or License To Carry, as well as exceptions to those fees for certain groups. SB 16 would reduce the non-refundable application fee from $140 to $40. More impoverished individuals and the elderly would have this fee further reduced by 50 percent.

Vote Recommendation Notes

Reducing fees, which are essentially a tax, for a license that governs a constitutional right is something we support. Still, this legislation could be improved upon. SB 16, on top of reducing fees for all license to carry applicants, would add a carve-out that aims to further reduce the amount of the fee for senior citizens. Giving preferential treatment to one group of citizens to the exclusion of other groups of citizens is not the proper role of government. However, because this bill does make progress in reducing fees for all who seek a license, we support it but recommend it be amended back to its form as filed which would have altogether eliminated the fees for everyone.