By Gutierrez                                            H.B. No. 89
         76R625 DRH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the fee for a late registration of a motor vehicle.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 502.158(f), Transportation Code, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (f)  An application for registration filed more than five
 1-7     days [one month] after the expiration of the preceding registration
 1-8     year must be accompanied by:
 1-9                 (1)  proof in a form prescribed by the department [a
1-10     statement] that the vehicle has not been operated on a public
1-11     highway at any time after the expiration of the preceding
1-12     registration year; or
1-13                 (2)  a delinquent fee under Section 502.176.
1-14           SECTION 2.  Section 502.176, Transportation Code, is amended
1-15     by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
1-16     follows:
1-17           (b)  A county assessor-collector may not register a vehicle
1-18     for which payment of the registration fee is delinquent unless the
1-19     owner:
1-20                 (1)  provides the proof required by Section 502.158(f)
1-21     that the vehicle has not been operated on a public highway; or
1-22                 (2)  pays an additional charge equal to the greater of:
1-23                       (A)  20 percent of the prescribed fee; or
1-24                       (B)  $5 for each full or partial calendar month
 2-1     that elapsed after the date the registration expired beginning with
 2-2     the second month after that date.
 2-3           (c)  Each fee collected under Subsection (b)(2) shall be:
 2-4                 (1)  disposed of and reported in the manner provided by
 2-5     Sections 502.102 and 502.105 if the county has implemented the
 2-6     department's automated registration and title system; or
 2-7                 (2)  sent to the comptroller for deposit to the credit
 2-8     of the state highway fund if the county has not implemented the
 2-9     department's automated registration and title system.
2-10           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-11     applies only to a registration that expires on or after that date.
2-12     A registration that expired before the effective date of this Act
2-13     is subject to the law that existed on the date the registration
2-14     expired, and the former law is continued in effect for that
2-15     purpose.
2-16           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.