By Chavez H.B. No. 72
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to requiring insurance firms to report cancellation or
1-3 expiration of auto liability insurance to the Department of Public
1-4 Safety.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Chapter 502, Subchapter D, Sec. 502.153,
1-7 Transportation Code is amended by adding subsection (j) to read as
1-8 follows:
1-9 CHAPTER D. REGISTRATION PROCEDURES AND FEES.
1-10 Sec. 502.153. Evidence of Financial Responsibility.
1-11 Sec. 502.153. Evidence of Financial Responsibility. (a)
1-12 The owner of a motor vehicle, other than a trailer or semitrailer,
1-13 for which evidence of financial responsibility is required by
1-14 Section 601.051 or a person who represents the owner for purposes
1-15 of registering a motor vehicle shall submit evidence of financial
1-16 responsibility with the application for registration under Section
1-17 502.151. A county assessor-collector may not register the motor
1-18 vehicle unless the owner or the owner's representative submits the
1-19 evidence of financial responsibility.
1-20 (b) The county assessor-collector shall examine the evidence
1-21 of financial responsibility to determine whether it complies with
2-1 Subsection (c). After examining the evidence, the
2-2 assessor-collector shall return the evidence unless it is in the
2-3 form of a photocopy or an electronic submission.
2-4 (c) In this section, evidence of financial responsibility
2-5 may be:
2-6 (1) a document listed under Section 601.053(a);
2-7 (2) a liability self-insurance or pool coverage
2-8 document issued by a political subdivision or governmental pool
2-9 under the authority of Chapter 791, Government Code, Chapter 119,
2-10 Local Government Code, or other applicable law in at least the
2-11 minimum amounts required by Chapter 601;
2-12 (3) a photocopy of a document described by Subdivision
2-13 (1) or (2); or
2-14 (4) an electronic submission of a document or the
2-15 information contained in a document described by Subdivision (1) or
2-16 (2).
2-17 (d) A personal automobile policy used as evidence of
2-18 financial responsibility under this section must comply with
2-19 Article 5.06, Insurance Code.
2-20 (e) At the time of registration, the county
2-21 assessor-collector shall provide to a person registering a motor
2-22 vehicle a separate statement that the motor vehicle being
2-23 registered may not be operated in this state unless:
2-24 (1) liability insurance coverage for the motor vehicle
2-25 in at least the minimum amounts required by law remains in effect
3-1 to insure against potential losses; or
3-2 (2) the motor vehicle is exempt from the insurance
3-3 requirement because the person has established financial
3-4 responsibility in a manner described by Section 601.051(2)-(5) or
3-5 is exempt under Section 601.052.
3-6 (f) A county assessor-collector is not liable to any person
3-7 for refusing to register a motor vehicle to which this section
3-8 applies because of the person's failure to submit evidence of
3-9 financial responsibility that complies with Subsection (c).
3-10 (g) A county, a county assessor-collector, a deputy county
3-11 assessor-collector, a person acting for or on behalf of a county or
3-12 a county assessor-collector, or a person acting on behalf of an
3-13 owner for purposes of registering a motor vehicle is not liable to
3-14 any person for registering a motor vehicle under this section.
3-15 (h) This section does not prevent a person from registering
3-16 a motor vehicle by mail or through an electronic submission.
3-17 (i) To be valid under this section, an electronic submission
3-18 must be in a format that is:
3-19 (1) submitted by electronic means, including a
3-20 telephone, facsimile machine, or computer;
3-21 (2) approved by the department; and
3-22 (3) authorized by the commissioners court for use in
3-23 the county.
3-24 (j) In the event that an auto liability insurance policy has
3-25 been cancelled or expired, the affected insurance company shall be
4-1 required to report this information to the Texas Department of
4-2 Public Safety. The Department will then, in turn, suspend the
4-3 owner's driver's license until such time that the policy is
4-4 reinstated and proof of financial responsibility for the registered
4-5 vehicle can be verified.
4-6 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-7 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.