The Harris County Tax Office issues disabled placards and disabled-person license plates to county residents as prescribed by their physicians. Detailed information is provided in this section explaining the requirements for the issuance of blue or red placards and disabled-person license plates. The Tax Office is available at 713-274-8000 for individual attention to questions about disabled-person parking.

Two Type of Disabled Placards

Blue Permanent Placards-permanent disabilities, placard valid for 4 years

Red Temporary Placards-temporary disabilities, placard valid for 6 months

Transportation Code, Section 681.001(2) defines a disability as a condition in which a person has:

1. mobility problems that substantially impair the person's ability to ambulate
2. visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting lenses or
3. visual acuity of more than 20/200 but with a limited field of vision in which the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle of 20 degrees or less

Transportation Code, Section 681.001(5) defines a mobility problem as one that substantially impairs a person's ability to ambulate, and the person:

1. cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest
2. cannot walk without the use of or assistance from an assistance device, including a brace, cane, crutch, another person or a prosthetic device
3. cannot ambulate without a wheelchair or similar device
4. is restricted by lung disease to the extent that the person's forced respiratory expiratory volume for one second, measured by spirometry, is less than one liter, or the arterial oxygen tension is less than 60 millimeters of mercury on room air at rest
5. uses portable oxygen
6. has a cardiac condition to the extent that the person's functional limitations are classified in severity as Class III or Class IV according to standards set by the American Heart Association
7. is severely limited in the ability to walk because of an arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition
8. has a disorder of the foot that, in the opinion of a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state or in a state adjacent to this state, limits or impairs the person's ability to walk or
9. has another debilitating condition that, in the opinion of a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state or a state adjacent to this state, or authorized by applicable law to practice medicine in a hospital or other health facility of the Veterans Administration, limits or impairs the person's ability to walk

Immediate Return of Disabled Placards Required When:

1. disabled resident moves outside of Harris County
2. death of disabled Harris County resident
3. improvements in disabled resident’s mobility that no longer fit the parameters for acquisition of a disabled placard due to surgery, physical therapy, or any type of physical rehabilitation