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Senate Bill 1495 |
Senate Author: Williams |
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Effective: 9-1-09 |
House Sponsor: Oliveira |
Senate Bill 1495 amends the Tax Code to make various clarifying and technical changes, as well as substantive changes, relating to the administration and enforcement of the law on motor fuel taxes and the responsibilities of participants in the fuel marketing industry. Among other changes, the bill redefines "biodiesel fuel," "blending," "bulk transfer," "diesel fuel," "distributor," "gasoline," "gasoline blended fuel," and "motor fuel." It excludes licensed suppliers, licensed permissive suppliers, and licensed distributors from the definition of a "motor fuel transporter," if they only transport specified fuels to which they retain title exempting such parties from the requirement of also having a motor fuel transporter's license. A "shipping document," as redefined, is a delivery document issued in conjunction with the sale, transfer, or transport of motor fuel. The bill removes provisions from the definition referring only to a document issued by a terminal or bulk plant operator. The new definition in effect requires a shipping document regardless of where the motor fuel is obtained. The bill revises the required contents of a shipping document.
The bill clarifies the tax liability of suppliers and permissive suppliers, distributors, importers, blenders, sellers, interstate truckers, and others, and specifies that a person required to receive or collect a tax under the motor fuels tax law is liable for and must pay the tax in the manner provided by that law. The bill requires that, for subsequent sales of gasoline or diesel fuel on which tax has been paid, the tax must be collected from the purchaser so that the tax ultimately is paid by the end user of the gasoline or diesel fuel. It requires that, except for a sale by a licensed dealer to a person who delivers the gasoline or diesel fuel at the dealer's place of business into a fuel supply tank or into a container having a capacity of not more than 10 gallons, the tax must be stated separately from the sales price on the invoice or receipt issued to a purchaser. The bill defines "bulk storage" as a container of more than 10 gallons. It eliminates the prerequisite of having a supplier's license or permissive supplier's license in order to conduct a tax-free transaction within the bulk transfer/terminal system. For tax-free dyed diesel fuel, the bill removes the 7,400-gallon single-delivery limitation on signed-statement purchases. Monthly limitations applicable to such purchases still apply.
Other revisions to the Tax Code address dyed diesel fuel procedures and, for both gasoline and diesel fuel, backup taxes, monthly returns by exporters, and tax credits for certain credit card transactions involving specified purchasers. The bill, in the portion of the motor fuels tax law relating to penalties and offenses, expands the set of provisions for which violations of three or more separate offenses committed pursuant to one scheme or continuous course of conduct may be considered as one offense and punished as a felony of the second degree. It provides that if a violation of a criminal offense provision of the motor fuels tax law constitutes another offense under other Texas law, the state may elect the offense for which it will seek prosecution. The bill abolishes the Study Commission on Transportation Financing. It includes conforming and technical amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, Transportation Code, and Water Code.