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.