By Price H.B. No. 2053
74R6550 JD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the identification of a motor vehicle that is issued
1-3 exempt license plates.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 3aa, Chapter 88, General Laws, Acts of
1-6 the 41st Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1929 (Article 6675a-3aa,
1-7 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection (g)
1-8 to read as follows:
1-9 (g)(1) The Department is prohibited from issuing exempt
1-10 license plates for a vehicle that is owned by the United States,
1-11 this state, or a political subdivision of this state unless when
1-12 application is made for registration of the vehicle, the person who
1-13 under Section 3(c) of this Act has proper authority to certify to
1-14 the Department that the vehicle qualifies for registration under
1-15 that section also certifies in writing to the Department that there
1-16 is printed on each side of the vehicle, in letters that are at
1-17 least two inches high and of a color sufficiently different from
1-18 the body of the vehicle to be clearly legible from a distance of
1-19 100 feet, the name of the agency, department, bureau, board,
1-20 commission, or officer of the United States, this state, or
1-21 political subdivision of this state that has custody of the
1-22 vehicle.
1-23 (2) The Department is prohibited from issuing exempt
1-24 license plates for a vehicle that is owned by a person other than
2-1 the United States, this state, or a political subdivision of this
2-2 state unless when application is made for registration of the
2-3 vehicle, the person who under Section 3(c) of this Act has proper
2-4 authority to certify to the Department that the vehicle qualifies
2-5 for registration under that section also certifies in writing to
2-6 the Department that the name of the owner of the vehicle is printed
2-7 on the vehicle in the manner prescribed by Subdivision (1) of this
2-8 subsection.
2-9 (3)(A) A peace officer listed in Article 2.12, Code of
2-10 Criminal Procedure, may seize a motor vehicle displaying exempt
2-11 license plates if the vehicle is:
2-12 (i) operated on a public highway; and
2-13 (ii) not identified in the manner
2-14 prescribed by Subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection.
2-15 (B) A peace officer who seizes a motor vehicle
2-16 under Subdivision (3)(A) of this subsection may require that the
2-17 vehicle be:
2-18 (i) moved to the nearest place of safety
2-19 off the main-traveled part of the highway; or
2-20 (ii) removed and placed in the nearest
2-21 vehicle storage facility designated or maintained by the law
2-22 enforcement agency that employs the peace officer.
2-23 (C) To obtain the release of the vehicle, in
2-24 addition to any other requirement of law, the owner of a vehicle
2-25 seized under Subdivision (3)(A) of this subsection must:
2-26 (i) remedy the defect by identifying the
2-27 vehicle as required by Subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection;
3-1 or
3-2 (ii) agree in writing with the law
3-3 enforcement agency to provide evidence to that agency, before the
3-4 10th day after the date the vehicle is released, that the defect
3-5 has been remedied by identifying the vehicle as required by
3-6 Subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection.
3-7 (4) Subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection do not
3-8 apply to a law enforcement vehicle to which Subsection (f) of this
3-9 section applies.
3-10 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
3-11 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.