Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 1387 continues the Automobile Theft Prevention Authority under the Texas Department of Transportation and removes the requirement for a separate sunset review. The act implements the Sunset Advisory Commission's across-the-board recommendations.

            House Bill 1387 clarifies the relationship between the authority and the department by removing the authority's power to employ staff, specifying that it may be provided staff and services only through the department, and limiting its ability to enter into contracts in its own name. The act requires the authority to contract with the attorney general for the use of computer resources to investigate, apprehend, and prosecute automobile thieves. Funds appropriated to the department for the authority are to be used to carry out the authority's duties and to pay for administrative costs, which are limited to eight percent of the authority's total expenditures for a fiscal year.

            The act requires automobile insurers to pay the authority fee twice a year and provides that a request for a refund by an insurer is valid regardless of the date the request or payment was made if the insurer notifies the authority not later than the later of November 1, 1997, or six months after the date the fees were paid to the authority.