BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 2957 By: Carter 05-05-95 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Currently, there is an ever growing problem of underground fictitious vehicle registration stickers, inspection stickers, and liability insurance cards. People are using these to circumvent the liability insurance laws. PURPOSE This bill restructures the penalties by putting them all within the jurisdiction of the justice and municipal courts; setting uniform fine ranges from $100 to $500; mandates seizure of a vehicle with a fictitious sticker attached; and subjects the defendant to a drivers license suspension hearing. This proposal removes the burden of proving a culpable mental state but provides statutory protection for those who unknowingly borrow a vehicle with these violations. 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 Section 5, Chapter 3, Article 6675a-3e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes as follows: (a)Expands the registration requirements to all motor vehicles under the same statute. (b)Requires all motor vehicles to display the registration and extends the requirements to beaches to conform with language in other statues. (e)This existing law that has been moved from another statute. (f)Same as (e) (g)This subsection centralizes registration violations. The penalty for expired registration is the same but expands the penalties for those who mislead the police about the vehicle being registered. The burden of proving a culpable mental state is removed from the prosecution but an affirmative defense is provided a driver who borrows a vehicle not knowing that the owner has fictitious registration. In (5) the common excuse is taken away from an owner that some mythical person put the fictitious sticker on his vehicle. (h)(1) This subsection now requires (instead of allows) the police to seize a vehicle with a fictitious symbol but protects a family of company that accidentally switches two or more stickers that are purchased at the same time. (2)Provides redemption standards for the owner. (i)This is existing law moved from another statute except it is unclear in that existing statute whether it is an offense to have a dirty license plate. SECTION 2: Amends Section 8, Chapter 3, Article 6675a-3e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes as follows: This section provides authority from enhanced penalties contained within this bill for fictitious or misleading registration violations. SECTION 3: Amends Section 22(b), Chapter 173, Article 6687(b), Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes as follows: Three enhanced penalties of drivers license suspension hearings are provided for on page 8 of this bill. (17) is for fictitious registration symbols or switching license plates. (18) is for having a fictitious inspection sticker or a sticker put on without inspection. (19) is for submitting a fictitious liability insurance card to avoid a no liability insurance conviction. SECTION 4: Amends Sections 141(d)(2) and (5), Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes as follows: This section enhances the penalties for a fictitious inspection sticker or a sticker put on without an inspection. It also removes a culpable mental state requirement but protects an innocent borrower of the vehicle. It disallows a defense of an owner that he allowed another to obtain the certificate. (f) mandates the police to seize their vehicle with a fictitious inspection sticker. (g), (h), (i), and (ii) provides the standards for redeeming the vehicle. SECTION 5: Amends Article 6701g-3, Revised Statutes, by adding Section 6 as follows: This section provides a fourteenth amendment right for an owner or lienholder to redeem the seized vehicle and ties the procedure into existing law for abandoned vehicles to allow a governmental entity to dispose of a vehicle that is not redeemed. SECTION 6: Amends Section 1D, Article 6701h, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes Provides the enhanced penalties for producing a fictitious liability insurance card. It removes the burden of culpable mental state and allowing another to obtain the fictitious document. SECTION 7: Amends Section 32(b), Article 6701h, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes Clarifies any question on false reporting after an accident. SECTION 8: These repealed articles are the ones being rewritten in this act. SECTION 9: This law applies to offenses committed on or after, or vehicles seized, September 1, 1995. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 2957 provides for a $100 minimum fine for using a fictitious license number plate. The original H.B. 2957 provided for a maximum fine of $200. C.S.H.B. 2957 also stipulates that it is an affirmative defense if the operator of the vehicle did not own the vehicle and did not know that the license number plate was issued to another vehicle. C.S.H.B. 2957 also provides that if two vehicles were register simultaneously by the same person and both vehicles have liability insurance coverage, the vehicle shall not be seized. The original bill did not include this language. The substitute extends coverage to all fictitious inspection stickers and provides that Article 6675b-4 is repealed. The substitute indicates that if certain conditions are met, an impounded vehicle may be returned to its owner. It allows for the car to be released to the owner, if a bond is posted. The substitute requires that the vehicle be inspected within 7 days and then bring proof of the inspection to the court within 10 days. The original did not include this language. C.S.H.B. 2957 provides that all fines or bonds be posted for all citations issued incidental to the impoundment. The substitute also requires that a owner of an impounded vehicle prepay 90 days of insurance as a condition redeeming a car that has been impounded. The original bill only stated that insurance coverage was established or arranged prior to release of the vehicle. C.S.H.B. 2957 also indicates that if conditions are not met within 10 days of the hearing, the person waives all rights to the vehicle. The vehicle may be sold at public auction. The original bill did not provide for the forfeiture of the vehicle. Finally, C.S.H.B. 2957 provides that a person may not operate an unregistered vehicle. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION Pursuant to a public notice posted on April 21, 1995, at 4:04 p.m., the House Committee on Transportation met in a public hearing on Wednesday, April 26, 1995, at 2:00 p.m., or upon adjournment, in Room E1.014 of the Capitol Extension and was called to order at 6:13 p.m. by the Chair, Representative Clyde Alexander. The Chair laid out H.B. 2957 and recognized Representative Carter to explain H.B. 2957. The Chair recognized the following persons who testified in support of H.B. 2957. Judge Sandy Prindle, Tx. Justice of the Peace Association. The Chair left H.B. 2957 pending before the Committee. Pursuant to a public notice announced from the House Floor on May 5, 1995, in accordance with House Rules, the House Committee on Transportation met in a formal meeting on the House Floor, at Desk 22, on Friday, May 5, 1995, and was called to order by the Chairman, Representative Clyde Alexander at 12:39 p.m. The Chair laid out H.B. 2957 by Carter, which was pending before the Committee. Representative Alexander laid out the Committee substitute to H.B. 2957, and without objection, the substitute was adopted. Representative Uher moved that the Committee report H.B. 2957, 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).