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House Bill 1692 |
House Author: Gutierrez |
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Effective: 1-1-14 |
Senate Sponsor: Patrick |
House Bill 1692 repeals an Occupations Code provision relating to the requirement for the director of the Motor Vehicle Division of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) to conduct hearings and issue final orders for the implementation and enforcement of statutory provisions governing vehicle warranties and the warranty-related rights of vehicle owners and amends a Transportation Code provision relating to procedures in certain contested cases to update a cross-reference to that repealed provision. The bill instead requires all hearings under statutory provisions governing the sale or lease of motor vehicles, rather than only hearings under provisions governing warranties, to be held by an administrative law judge of the State Office of Administrative Hearings, with the exception of a hearing regarding a complaint concerning a vehicle defect in a vehicle covered by a warranty or concerning a warranty in general, in which case the hearing must be held by a hearings examiner. The bill authorizes TxDMV to employ a chief hearings examiner and one or more additional hearings examiners, all of whom must be licensed to practice law in Texas, and specifies that a hearings examiner, along with an administrative law judge, has all of the TxDMV board's power and authority to conduct hearings.
House Bill 1692 requires the parties to certain contested cases to participate in mediation as provided by TxDMV board rule before the parties may have a hearing in the case and requires a hearings examiner to issue a final order in such a contested case hearing. The bill authorizes the board by rule to establish procedures to allow a party to a contested case to file a motion for rehearing and requires the motion to be filed with and decided by the chief hearings examiner.