74(R) HB 300 House Committee Report

                          BILL ANALYSIS



C.S.H.B. 300
By: Hochberg
04-12-95
Committee Report (Substituted)


BACKGROUND

Current law (Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes, Article 6687-5)
requires only that a seller give up the certificate of title upon
sale or trade of a vehicle. The buyer, once he receives the vehicle
and certificate of title, is required to file the certificate of
title within 20 working days of the date of the transfer with the
Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT). However, when a buyer
fails to file the title with TXDOT, a transfer of ownership cannot
be noted, and the seller remains the registered owner of the
vehicle. Therefore, any unpaid parking tickets issued to the buyer
will become the responsibility of the seller since the seller is
listed in the department's records as the registered owner of the
vehicle.

Currently, a seller can remove his or her name from the vehicle
registration record if he or she fills out a form at the County Tax
Assessor/Collector's office. Yet many sellers are unaware of the
form until they receive notice that they are liable for charges on
the vehicle, such as unpaid parking tickets. 

PURPOSE

The purpose of this bill is to provide a simple procedure that
sellers of previously-owned motor vehicles can employ to inform the
Texas Department of Transportation that they have sold or traded
their vehicle to another party and that they are no longer the
registered owner of the vehicle.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly
grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer,
department, agency or institution.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1: Amends Article 6687-5, Revised Statutes, by adding
Section 4 as follows:

Section (4)(a) states that a person who transfers ownership of a
previously owned vehicle by sale or trade in this state and
delivers said vehicle to the new owner may disclose the transfer to
the Department of Transportation on a form prescribed by the
Department.

Subsection (b) describes the mandatory contents of the above-mentioned form.

Subsection (c) states that the transferor of a vehicle is not
subject to civil or criminal liabilities incurred after the date of
the actual transfer of the vehicle if said transferor submits the
required form no later than the 10th day after the actual transfer
of the vehicle and upon payment of the associated filing fee for
the transfer form.

Subsection (d) requires the Department of Transportation to keep
each form filed for at least two years after the date of filing.

Subsection (e) authorizes the Department of Transportation to adopt
a fee for filing a document in an amount that may not exceed the
actual cost to the department of implementing this section.

Section 2: States that the intent of this legislation is not to
impose civil or criminal liability on the transferor of a vehicle
if he does not file the transfer form in a timely manner upon the
actual transfer of the vehicle.

Section 3: Effective date of September 1, 1995

Section 4: Emergency Clause.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

Major points of difference between HB 300, as introduced, and the
committee substitute are as follows:

Section 1: The substitute amends Section 3, Article 6687-5, Revised
Statutes rather than add Section 4:

Sec. 3. Changes the State Department of Highways and Public
Transportation to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDot). 
Section 3 also changes the language of the bill to indicate that
TxDot shall change its records upon receipt of transfer of title
rather than specify that the seller of the vehicle may make
disclosure to TxDot as in the original bill.

Subsection (b) combines into one Subsection the design of the
written notice of transfer of the vehicle's certificate of title
and the contents of the written notice of transfer must include.

The substitute Subsection (c) changes the language of the bill to
indicate that after the date of transfer TxDot shall assume that
the tranferee is the owner of the vehicle and is "subject to
criminal and civil liability arising out of the use, operation or
abandonment of the vehicle as the owner of the vehicle.

The Committee substitue Subsection (d) changes the language of the
bill to indicate that the department simply adopt rules to
implement this article and to adopt a fee for filing a notice of
transfer in an amount that may not exceed the lesser of the actual
cost to the department or $5.  In addition, the substitute
eliminates the requirement that TxDot keep each transfer of title
for two years.

Subsection (e) substitutes Section 2 in the original bill stating
that nothing in this article establishs or imposes civil or
criminal liability on the owner of a motor vehicle who transfers
ownership of the vehicle but does not make the disclosure of the
transfer to the Texas Department of Transportation.

The Committee substitute adds Subsection (f) stating that this
article does not require the department to issue a title to the
transferee and that a title may not be issued until the transferee
applies to the designated agent as provided by the Certificate of
Title Act (Article 6687-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).

The Committee substitute eliminates Section 3 indicating the
effective date of September 1, 1995.

The Committee substitute changes Section 4 to Section 2 indicating
the Emergency Clause.

SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION

Pursuant to a public notice posted on March 2, 1995, at 4:46 p.m.,
the House Committee on Transportation met in a public hearing on
Wednesday, March 8, 1995 at 2:00 p.m. in Room E1.014 of the Capitol
Extension and was called to order at 2:04 p.m. by the Chair,
Representative Clyde Alexander.  The Chair laid out H.B. 300 and
recognized Representative Hochberg to explain H.B. 300.  The Chair
recognized the following persons who testified in support of H.B.
300.       Judge Sandy Prindle, Justice of the Peace and Constables
Association of Texas.  No persons testified in opposition to H.B.
300.  The Chair left H.B. 300 pending before the Committee. 
Pursuant to a public  notice posted on April 7, 1995 at 5:04 p.m.,
the House Committee on Transportation met in a public hearing on
Wednesday, April 12, 1995, at 2:00 p.m., or upon adjournment, in
Room E1.014 of the Capitol Extension and was called to order at
3:58 p.m. by the Chair, Representative Clyde Alexander.  The Chair
laid out H.B. 300 by Hochberg, which was pending before the
Committee.  Representative Bosse laid out the Committee Substitute
to H.B. 300, and without objection, the substitute was adopted. 
Representative Price moved that the Committee report H.B. 300, as
substituted, to the full House with the recommendation that it do
pass.  The motion prevailed by the following vote: Ayes (6), Nayes
(0), Absent (3), Present not voting (0).