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Senate Bill 197 |
Senate Author: West |
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Effective: 9-1-11 |
House Sponsor: Phillips |
Current law governing the compulsory inspection of vehicles authorizes the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to impose an administrative penalty against a person who knowingly violates the law or a rule adopted under the law. Senate Bill 197 amends the Transportation Code to authorize the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to impose an administrative penalty for each violation of the law relating to an emissions inspection. The bill requires an application for certification from certain inspection stations that have been convicted of a violation relating to an emissions inspection to be accompanied by a surety bond in the amount of $5,000. The bill increases the fee for certification as an inspector or as an inspection station and prescribes the fee for certification as an inspection station if an applicant has been convicted of one or more violations of the law relating to an emissions inspection. The bill also establishes civil penalties for a violation of the law relating to an emissions inspection and authorizes a local district or county attorney to bring suit to collect the penalties.
Senate Bill 197 creates the offense of fraudulent emissions inspection of a motor vehicle and establishes the penalty for such an offense. The bill sets out conditions under which an inspection station is not subject to a penalty or criminal prosecution for an act of an employee and under which a station is subject to prosecution for such an act. The bill requires DPS and the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to conduct a study regarding an electronic system to consolidate vehicle inspection and registration and to report the results of the study to the legislature.