The department may not issue a license to people who meet certain ineligibility conditions, with a limited exception for some physical defects.
Sec. 521.201. LICENSE INELIGIBILITY IN GENERAL. The department may not issue any license to a person who: (1) is under 15 years of age; (2) is under 18 years of age unless the person complies with the requirements imposed by Section 521.204; (3) is shown to be addicted to the use of alcohol, a controlled substance, or another drug that renders a person incapable of driving; (4) holds a driver's license issued by this state or another state or country that is revoked, canceled, or under suspension; (5) has been determined by a judgment of a court to be totally incapacitated or incapacitated to act as the operator of a motor vehicle unless the person has, by the date of the license application, been: (A) restored to capacity by judicial decree; or (B) released from a hospital for the mentally incapacitated on a certificate by the superintendent or administrator of the hospital that the person has regained capacity; (6) the department determines to be afflicted with a mental or physical disability or disease that prevents the person from exercising reasonable and ordinary control over a motor vehicle while operating the vehicle on a highway, except that a person may not be refused a license because of a physical defect if common experience shows that the defect does not incapacitate a person from safely operating a motor vehicle; (7) has been reported by a court under Section 521.3452 for failure to appear unless the court has filed an additional report on final disposition of the case; or (8) has been reported by a court for failure to appear or default in payment of a fine for a misdemeanor that is not covered under Subdivision (7) and that is punishable by a fine only, including a misdemeanor under a municipal ordinance, committed by a person who was under 17 years of age at the time of the alleged offense, unless the court has filed an additional report on final disposition of the case. Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 560, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1080, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 283, Sec. 54, eff. Sept. 1, 2003. Amended by: Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 949 (H.B. 1575), Sec. 50, eff. September 1, 2005.