By Hochberg H.B. No. 300
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 300:
By Bosse C.S.H.B. No. 300
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the release of the transferor of a used or secondhand
1-3 motor vehicle from certain civil and criminal consequences arising
1-4 out of the use, operation, or abandonment of the vehicle.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 3, Article 6687-5, Revised Statutes, is
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 3. (a) On receipt of written notice of transfer from
1-9 the transferor of a motor vehicle, the Texas <State> Department of
1-10 <Highways and Public> Transportation shall mark its motor vehicle
1-11 records to indicate the transfer.
1-12 (b) The department may design the written notice of transfer
1-13 to be part of the certificate of title for the vehicle. The form
1-14 shall be provided by the department and must include a place for
1-15 the transferor to state:
1-16 (1) the vehicle identification number for the vehicle;
1-17 (2) the number of the license plate issued to the
1-18 vehicle, if any;
1-19 (3) the full name and address of the transferor;
1-20 (4) the full name and address of the transferee;
1-21 (5) the date the transferor delivered possession of
1-22 the vehicle to the transferee;
1-23 (6) the signature of the transferor; and
1-24 (7) the date the transferor signed the form.
2-1 (c) After the date of the transfer of the vehicle shown on
2-2 the records of the department, the transferee of the vehicle shown
2-3 on the records is rebuttably presumed to be:
2-4 (1) the owner of the vehicle; and
2-5 (2) subject to civil and criminal liability arising
2-6 out of the use, operation, or abandonment of the vehicle as the
2-7 owner of the vehicle.
2-8 (d) The department may:
2-9 (1) adopt rules to implement this section; and
2-10 (2) adopt a fee for filing a notice of transfer under
2-11 this section in an amount that may not exceed the lesser of the
2-12 actual cost to the department of implementing this section or $5.
2-13 (e) Nothing in this section imposes or establishes civil or
2-14 criminal liability on the owner of a motor vehicle who transfers
2-15 ownership of the vehicle but does not make the disclosure of the
2-16 transfer to the department.
2-17 (f) This section does not require the department to issue a
2-18 title to the transferee. A <However, a> title may not be issued
2-19 until the transferee applies to the designated agent as provided by
2-20 the Certificate of Title Act (Article 6687-1, Vernon's Texas Civil
2-21 Statutes).
2-22 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.