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Senate Bill 1786 |
Senate Author: Carona |
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Effective: 9-1-07 |
House Sponsor: Hill |
Senate Bill 1786 amends the Transportation Code to require the Texas Department of Transportation to develop and maintain a secure, real-time database of information on vehicles to which dealers and converters have affixed temporary cardboard tags and on persons to whom temporary buyer's tags are issued. The bill requires the department to prescribe procedures for a converter or dealer to generate a vehicle-specific number using the database and requires the database to allow law enforcement agencies to use the vehicle-specific number assigned to and displayed on the tag. Before a tag may be displayed on a vehicle, the dealer or converter must enter into the database through the Internet information on the vehicle or buyer as prescribed by the department. The department is required to ensure that a dealer may generate in advance a sufficient number of vehicle-specific numbers in order to continue selling vehicles for a period of up to one week in which a dealer is unable to access the Internet due to an emergency. Each dealer is required to provide a one-page written notice to a buyer that explains the requirements of the law regarding a buyer's temporary cardboard tag, any criminal penalties relating to the tag, and certain other information. The bill establishes criminal penalties ranging from a Class C misdemeanor to a state jail felony for the unauthorized production, reproduction, purchasing, selling, or displaying of a temporary tag. The bill amends the Occupations Code to authorize the department to deny, revoke, or suspend the motor vehicle dealer license of a person who violates the law relating to a buyer's temporary tag database.