HBA-ALS C.S.S.B. 639 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 639 By: Bernsen Transportation 4/21/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The purpose of this bill is to raise funds for the tourism activities of the Texas Department of Economic Development (TDED) and to create a marketing piece to advertise the state's tourism logo. C.S.S.B. 1686 authorizes the TDED to issue specialized "Texas: It's Like a Whole Other Country" license plates. This bill also provides for the repeal of this program if it does not generate over $100,000 by September 1, 2003. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter F, Chapter 502, Transportation Code, by adding Section 502.2733, as follows: Sec. 502.2733. TEXAS. IT'S LIKE A WHOLE OTHER COUNTRY LICENSE PLATES. (a) Requires the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to issue specially designed "Texas. It's Like A Whole Other Country" license plates for passenger cars and light trucks. (b) Provides that the license plates must include the trademarked Texas patch and the words "Texas. It's Like A Whole Other Country" and be of a color, quality, and design approved by the Texas Department of Economic Development. (c) Requires TxDOT to issue license plates under this section to a person who applies to the county assessor-collector of the county in which the person resides on a form provided by TxDOT and pays an annual fee of $30, in addition to the applicable fees prescribed by Sections 502.161 (Passenger Car, Municipal Bus, Private Bus) and 502.251 (Personalized Prestige License Plates). (d) Requires that $25 from each fee collected under this section be deposited to the credit of the tourism account in the general revenue fund to finance the Texas Department of Economic Development's tourism activities and $5 be deposited to the credit of the state highway fund to defray the cost of administering this section. (e) Requires an owner of a vehicle registered under this section who disposes of the vehicle during the registration to return the special license plates to the department. SECTION 2. Requires the comptroller of public accounts, before January 1, 2004, to determine the total amount collected under Subsection (d), before September 1, 2003, and to submit the determination to the secretary of state for publication in the Texas Register. Provides that if the amount of the comptroller's determination is less than $100,000, Section 502.2733, Transportation Code, as added by this Act, expires on January 1, 2004. SECTION 3.Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4.Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 1 (proposed Section 502.2733, Transportation Code) to require $25 from each fee collected for the issuance of the specially designed license plates under this section be deposited into the tourism account in the general revenue fund to finance the Texas Department of Economic Development's tourism activities, rather than transmitted by the comptroller to the Economic Development Corporation to be used for the performance of the corporation's functions. The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 2 to make a nonsubstantive change.