By Siebert                                            H.B. No. 1675
         76R5958 MXM-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to exemptions from license requirements for certain motor
 1-3     vehicle lessors.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 4.01(a), Texas Motor Vehicle Commission
 1-6     Code (Article 4413(36), Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
 1-7     to read as follows:
 1-8           (a)  Except as provided by this Section, no person shall
 1-9     engage in business as, serve in the capacity of, or act as a
1-10     dealer, manufacturer, distributor, converter, representative,
1-11     lessor, or lease facilitator in this State or perform or offer to
1-12     perform repair services on a motor vehicle pursuant to the terms of
1-13     a franchise and a motor vehicle manufacturer's warranty, whether or
1-14     not the person sells or offers to sell motor vehicles at the same
1-15     location, without obtaining a license therefor as provided in this
1-16     Act and the rules of the Commission.  All new license applications
1-17     shall be reviewed and, in the discretion of the Commission,
1-18     investigated to determine compliance with the provisions of this
1-19     Act.  License renewals may be administratively granted unless
1-20     protested.  Licenses issued by the Commission shall expire one year
1-21     from date of issuance.  All licenses and renewals thereof are
1-22     issued subject to all provisions of this Act and rules of the
1-23     Commission in effect upon the date of issuance as well as all
1-24     future provisions of this Act and rules which may become effective
 2-1     during the term of the license.  A lessor or lease facilitator is
 2-2     not required to obtain a lessor or lease facilitator license or pay
 2-3     a license fee under this code if the lessor or lease facilitator is
 2-4     a state or federally chartered financial institution or a regulated
 2-5     subsidiary of a state or federally chartered financial institution,
 2-6     or the lessor is a corporation that leases trucks for commercial
 2-7     purposes that have a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 8,500
 2-8     pounds.  A trust or other entity that owns an interest in a lease
 2-9     and the vehicle that is the subject of the lease is not required to
2-10     obtain a lessor license or lease facilitator license or pay a
2-11     license fee with respect to a lease initiated, managed, serviced,
2-12     and administered by a licensed lessor.  A franchised dealer
2-13     licensed under this code is not required to obtain a lessor or
2-14     lease facilitator license or pay a license fee under this code to
2-15     engage in the business of leasing motor vehicles, including new
2-16     motor vehicles, that the dealer is licensed to sell.
2-17           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-22     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-23     passage, and it is so enacted.