1-1 By: Price (Senate Sponsor - Lucio) H.B. No. 2053
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 4, 1995;
1-3 May 5, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on State
1-4 Affairs; May 16, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 16, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the identification of a motor vehicle that is issued
1-9 exempt license plates.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 3aa, Chapter 88, General Laws, Acts of
1-12 the 41st Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1929 (Article 6675a-3aa,
1-13 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection (g)
1-14 to read as follows:
1-15 (g)(1) The Department is prohibited from issuing exempt
1-16 license plates for a vehicle that is owned by the United States,
1-17 this state, or a political subdivision of this state unless when
1-18 application is made for registration of the vehicle, the person who
1-19 under Section 3(c) of this Act has proper authority to certify to
1-20 the Department that the vehicle qualifies for registration under
1-21 that section also certifies in writing to the Department that there
1-22 is printed on each side of the vehicle, in letters that are at
1-23 least two inches high and of a color sufficiently different from
1-24 the body of the vehicle to be clearly legible from a distance of
1-25 100 feet, the name of the agency, department, bureau, board,
1-26 commission, or officer of the United States, this state, or
1-27 political subdivision of this state that has custody of the
1-28 vehicle.
1-29 (2) The Department is prohibited from issuing exempt
1-30 license plates for a vehicle that is owned by a person other than
1-31 the United States, this state, or a political subdivision of this
1-32 state unless when application is made for registration of the
1-33 vehicle, the person who under Section 3(c) of this Act has proper
1-34 authority to certify to the Department that the vehicle qualifies
1-35 for registration under that section also certifies in writing to
1-36 the Department that the name of the owner of the vehicle is printed
1-37 on the vehicle in the manner prescribed by Subdivision (1) of this
1-38 subsection.
1-39 (3)(A) A peace officer listed in Article 2.12, Code of
1-40 Criminal Procedure, may seize a motor vehicle displaying exempt
1-41 license plates if the vehicle is:
1-42 (i) operated on a public highway; and
1-43 (ii) not identified in the manner
1-44 prescribed by Subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection.
1-45 (B) A peace officer who seizes a motor vehicle
1-46 under Subdivision (3)(A) of this subsection may require that the
1-47 vehicle be:
1-48 (i) moved to the nearest place of safety
1-49 off the main-traveled part of the highway; or
1-50 (ii) removed and placed in the nearest
1-51 vehicle storage facility designated or maintained by the law
1-52 enforcement agency that employs the peace officer.
1-53 (C) To obtain the release of the vehicle, in
1-54 addition to any other requirement of law, the owner of a vehicle
1-55 seized under Subdivision (3)(A) of this subsection must:
1-56 (i) remedy the defect by identifying the
1-57 vehicle as required by Subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection;
1-58 or
1-59 (ii) agree in writing with the law
1-60 enforcement agency to provide evidence to that agency, before the
1-61 10th day after the date the vehicle is released, that the defect
1-62 has been remedied by identifying the vehicle as required by
1-63 Subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection.
1-64 (4) Subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection do not
1-65 apply to a law enforcement vehicle to which Subsection (f) of this
1-66 section applies.
1-67 (5) For purposes of this subsection, an exempt license
1-68 plate is a license plate that is issued by the Department and is
2-1 plainly marked with the the word "Exempt".
2-2 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
2-3 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-8 * * * * *