(a) After completion of an original application for the type and class of license that the applicant needs, it is necessary to collect the proper fee for the license requested. A transaction service fee shall be added to each application fee collected as provided by §2054.1115(a) Government Code. If it is determined during completion of the application forms that the applicant is clearly ineligible for the immediate issuance of the license sought (disqualified, suspended, denied, revoked, or "immediate hazard under MAB considerations"), the fee will not be collected and the proper explanation and instructions will be given to the applicant.
(b) The application fee shall be forfeited if the applicant fails any single exam three times. Exam means vision, knowledge (signs, rules, or automated), or skills (driving/road or pretrip) tests. If an applicant fails the rules test two times and the signs test two times, his exam fee is not forfeited. Even though he has failed four exams, he has failed each individual test only two times. If he were to fail the signs tests two times and the rules test three times, the fee will be forfeited because the rules test was failed three times. The application fee shall also be forfeited if the applicant has not been issued the license applied for on the 91st day after the original date that the application and fee were accepted.
(c) When an original applicant, applying for a commercial driver's license (CDL) fails to pass a test and decides to apply for a non-CDL license, the applicant will be required to submit a new application and the appropriate fee for the license he desires to obtain. The CDL application may not be reduced to a non-CDL license. For this reason it is suggested that all applicants for a CDL be encouraged to apply for a non-CDL license. Upon issuance of the non-CDL license, the applicant must then apply for the upgrade to the needed CDL license and will be given credit for each full year that remains on the non-CDL license.

Source Note: The provisions of this §15.40 adopted to be effective October 1, 1992, 17 TexReg 6483; amended to be effective February 15, 2000, 25 TexReg 1125; amended to be effective December 13, 2009, 34 TexReg 8784