BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2195

By: Noble

Transportation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current law requires drivers to ensure that their license plates are not obstructed or obscured from view. However, many drivers do not follow this law. The placement of anything on a car that may obscure a license plate, impair its readability, or have a blurring or reflective effect on the plate is a hindrance to law enforcement, tolling authorities, and the general public. C.S.H.B. 2195 seeks to encourage compliance with this law by increasing the maximum fine for a first-time offense and providing for an escalation in fines for a subsequent offense. The legislation also prohibits a vehicle with an obscured, altered, or fictitious license plate from passing state inspection.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2195 amends the Transportation Code to expand the conduct that constitutes the offense of displaying a wrong, fictitious, altered, or obscured vehicle license plate to include attaching to or displaying on a motor vehicle a license plate that has a coating, covering, protective substance, or other material that covers the plate's letters, numbers, or colors. The bill increases from $200 to $300 the maximum fine for the offense of displaying a wrong, fictitious, altered, or obscured vehicle license plate involving attaching to or displaying on a motor vehicle a license plate that has a coating, covering, protective substance, or other material that alters, covers, or obscures the plate's letters, numbers, or color. The bill enhances the penalty for a subsequent conviction of the offense involving such conduct to a maximum fine of $600 and to a Class B misdemeanor for two or more such convictions.

C.S.H.B. 2195 requires a motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer, or mobile home registered in Texas to have each license plate required to be displayed on the vehicle inspected at an inspection station or by an inspector as part of the routine inspection required for the vehicle's registration. The bill prohibits an inspection station or inspector from issuing a passing vehicle inspection report for an applicable motor vehicle if the vehicle is equipped with a license plate that constitutes a wrong, fictitious, altered, or obscured license plate.

C.S.H.B. 2195 applies only to an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. The bill provides for the continuation of the law in effect before the bill's effective date for purposes of an offense, or any element thereof, that occurred before that date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2195 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute contains a provision expanding the conduct that constitutes the offense of displaying a wrong, fictitious, altered, or obscured license plate, whereas the introduced did not contain such a provision.