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Senate Bill 2153 |
Senate Author: Whitmire |
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Effective: 9-1-09 |
House Sponsor: Hernandez |
Senate Bill 2153 amends the Occupations Code to add provisions relating to the installation and removal of a vehicle immobilization device, or boot, to the Texas Towing Act, which is renamed the Texas Towing and Booting Act. The bill establishes that the act does not apply to a person who, while exercising a statutory or contractual lien right with regard to a vehicle, installs or removes a boot, or controls, installs, or directs the installation and removal of one or more boots, or to a commercial office building owner or manager who installs or removes a boot in the building's parking facility. The bill requires the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation to adopt rules for permitting booting companies and boot operators, and prohibits a person from performing booting operations or operating a booting company unless the person holds an appropriate license. The bill requires an applicant for a booting company license to submit evidence of financial responsibility as prescribed by the bill.
The bill makes provisions that apply to local regulation of towing apply to local regulation of towing and booting. The bill authorizes a municipality to adopt an ordinance that matches or exceeds, but does not conflict with, the booting provisions under the Texas Towing and Booting Act. The bill authorizes a municipality to regulate the fees that may be charged in connection with the booting of a vehicle, including associated parking fees, and to require booting companies to obtain a permit to operate in the municipality.
Senate Bill 2153 authorizes a parking facility owner to cause a boot to be installed on a vehicle in the parking facility if lawful signs prohibiting unauthorized vehicles are located on the parking facility at the time of the booting and for the preceding 24 hours and remain installed at the time of the booting. The bill requires a boot operator that installs a boot on a vehicle to affix a conspicuous notice to the vehicle's front windshield or driver's side window and to provide a receipt to the vehicle owner or operator on removal of the boot. The bill requires the notice and receipt to include certain information, including notice of the right to a hearing, and it requires the booting company to maintain a copy of the receipt at its place of business for a period of three years. The bill requires a booting company to accept payment by an electronic check, debit card, or credit card for any fee or charge associated with the removal of a boot, and it prohibits a booting company from collecting a fee for any charge associated with the removal of a boot from a person who offers to pay the charge with an electronic check, debit card, or credit card form of payment that the booting company is not equipped to accept.
Senate Bill 2153 establishes that for booted vehicles a hearing is held in the justice court having jurisdiction in the precinct in which the parking facility is located. The bill requires the court to notify the person who requested the hearing for a booted vehicle, the parking facility in which the vehicle was booted, and the booting company of the date, time, and place of the hearing in the manner provided by provisions for methods of service under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. The bill establishes that the issues in a hearing regarding a booted vehicle are whether probable cause existed for the booting of the vehicle and whether a boot removal charge imposed or collected in connection with the removal of the boot was greater than the amount authorized by a municipal ordinance. The bill authorizes a court to award, in addition to other amounts, an amount equal to the amount that the booting removal charge and associated parking fees exceeded fees regulated by a political subdivision or authorized by law.
Senate Bill 2153 makes regulation of towing companies and parking facility owners also apply to booting companies and adds booting companies to provisions prohibiting a parking facility owner from receiving financial gain from a towing company, prohibiting a towing company from financial involvement with a parking facility owner, and establishing civil liability of a towing company or parking facility owner for a violation of the act. The bill also makes provisions that apply to the rights of owners and operators of stored vehicles apply to stored or booted vehicles. The bill establishes that if in a hearing held under the act the court finds that a person authorized, with probable cause, the booting of a vehicle in a parking facility, the person who requested the hearing pays the costs of the booting. The bill establishes that if in a hearing the court does not find that a person authorized, with probable cause, the booting of a vehicle, the person that authorized the booting pays the costs of the booting and any related parking fees or reimburses the owner or operator for the cost of the booting and any related parking fees paid by the owner or operator.
The bill also adds a representative of a booting company to the Towing and Storage Advisory Board, which is renamed the Towing, Storage, and Booting Advisory Board, and requires the presiding officer of the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation to appoint the representative promptly after the bill takes effect.