By Hochberg                                            H.B. No. 300
       74R2100 JD-D
                                 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.  Article 6687-5, Revised Statutes, is amended by
    1-7  adding Section 4 to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 4.  (a)  A person who transfers ownership of a used or
    1-9  secondhand motor vehicle in this state, including by sale or trade,
   1-10  and delivers possession of the vehicle to another person may make a
   1-11  disclosure to the department, on a form prescribed by the
   1-12  department, of the vehicle's transfer.
   1-13        (b)  The prescribed form must include a place for the
   1-14  transferor to state:
   1-15              (1)  the vehicle identification number for the vehicle;
   1-16              (2)  the number of the license plate issued to the
   1-17  vehicle, if any;
   1-18              (3)  the full name and address of the transferor;
   1-19              (4)  the full name and address of the transferee;
   1-20              (5)  the date that the transferor delivered possession
   1-21  of the vehicle to the transferee;
   1-22              (6)  the signature of the transferor; and
   1-23              (7)  the date the transferor signed the form.
   1-24        (c)  The transferor of a motor vehicle is not subject to
    2-1  civil or criminal liability that would be incurred by an owner of
    2-2  the vehicle after the date the transferor delivers possession of
    2-3  the vehicle to the transferee if the transferor:
    2-4              (1)  executes the form described by this section;
    2-5              (2)  delivers the executed form to the department no
    2-6  later than the 10th day after the date the transferor delivers
    2-7  possession of the vehicle to the transferee; and
    2-8              (3)  pays to the department any required filing fee.
    2-9        (d)  The department shall keep each form filed with the
   2-10  department under this section for at least two years after the date
   2-11  of filing.
   2-12        (e)  The department may adopt a fee for filing a document
   2-13  under this section in an amount that may not exceed the actual cost
   2-14  to the department of implementing this section.
   2-15        SECTION 2.  It is not the intent of the legislature to impose
   2-16  or establish civil or criminal liability on the owner of a motor
   2-17  vehicle who transfers ownership of the vehicle but does not make
   2-18  the disclosure of the transfer to the Texas Department of
   2-19  Transportation under Section 4, Article 6687-5, Revised Statutes,
   2-20  as added by Section 1 of this Act.
   2-21        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-22        SECTION 4.  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.