By Grusendorf H.B. No. 1939
76R4681 GWK-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to indicating on a driver's license or personal
1-3 identification card and on license plates if the holder of the
1-4 license or card or the person to whom the plates are issued is a
1-5 person convicted of certain sex offenses.
1-6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-7 SECTION 1. Chapter 42, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-8 amended by adding Articles 42.016 and 42.017 to read as follows:
1-9 Art. 42.016. REVOCATION OF DRIVER'S LICENSE ON CONVICTION OF
1-10 CERTAIN SEX OFFENSES. (a) On conviction of or grant of deferred
1-11 adjudication to a defendant for an offense for which a conviction
1-12 or adjudication requires registration under Chapter 62, as added by
1-13 Chapter 668, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997,
1-14 the court shall:
1-15 (1) order the Texas Department of Public Safety to
1-16 revoke the defendant's driver's license, if the defendant has a
1-17 driver's license, or the defendant's personal identification card,
1-18 if the defendant has a personal identification card;
1-19 (2) require the defendant to surrender to the court
1-20 the defendant's driver's license or personal identification card,
1-21 if any; and
1-22 (3) inform the defendant of the consequence of the
1-23 conviction as it relates to the issuance of a driver's license or
1-24 personal identification card to the defendant.
2-1 (b) The Texas Department of Public Safety shall, on issuing
2-2 a driver's license or personal identification card to a person
2-3 whose previous license or card was ordered revoked under Subsection
2-4 (a), place a symbol on the license or card in a manner determined
2-5 by the department indicating that the previous license or card was
2-6 revoked under Subsection (a). The symbol must clearly appear on
2-7 the face of each original, renewed, duplicate, or corrected license
2-8 issued to the person.
2-9 Art. 42.017. CONFISCATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE LICENSE PLATES.
2-10 (a) On conviction of or grant of deferred adjudication to a
2-11 defendant for an offense for which a conviction or adjudication
2-12 requires registration under Chapter 62, as added by Chapter 668,
2-13 Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, the court that
2-14 sentences a defendant shall confiscate the license plates and
2-15 impound the registration receipt for each motor vehicle owned by
2-16 the defendant at the time of the conviction or grant of deferred
2-17 adjudication, except as provided by Subsection (e) of this article.
2-18 (b) A court that confiscates a defendant's license plates
2-19 and impounds a registration receipt under Subsection (a) of this
2-20 article:
2-21 (1) on application of the defendant, shall issue an
2-22 order to the tax collector of the county in which the court has
2-23 jurisdiction to deliver to a person named in the order, on payment
2-24 by the person of $40, in addition to the annual registration fee
2-25 otherwise prescribed by this chapter, a set of sex offender license
2-26 plates for the vehicle for which the license plates are impounded,
2-27 and require the person to affix the license plates to the vehicle
3-1 and maintain them on the vehicle; and
3-2 (2) shall notify the Texas Department of
3-3 Transportation, on a form designed and provided by the department,
3-4 that the license plates assigned to the defendant's vehicle have
3-5 been confiscated and that the court has ordered the issuance of sex
3-6 offender license plates for the vehicle.
3-7 (c) A defendant may not sell or transfer title to a motor
3-8 vehicle while the registration receipt for the vehicle is impounded
3-9 under this article, except on application to the court that
3-10 impounded the registration receipt. If the court is satisfied that
3-11 the proposed sale or transfer would be in good faith for valid
3-12 consideration and would not be to circumvent this article, and that
3-13 the defendant will be deprived of custody or control of the
3-14 vehicle, the court shall approve the transfer, require the owner to
3-15 deliver to the court the sex offender license plates, and return
3-16 the impounded registration receipt to the defendant.
3-17 (d) If, after confiscation of the license plates and
3-18 impoundment of a registration receipt under this article, title to
3-19 the vehicle is transferred by foreclosure, sale on execution,
3-20 cancellation of a conditional sales contract, or judicial order,
3-21 the court shall require return of the sex offender license plates
3-22 and deliver the registration receipt to the new owner or
3-23 transferee.
3-24 (e) A court may not confiscate the license plates and
3-25 impound the registration receipt of a vehicle under Subsection (a)
3-26 of this article if the vehicle is the only personally owned vehicle
3-27 in the defendant's immediate family and is normally driven by a
4-1 person other than the defendant who is a member of the defendant's
4-2 immediate family.
4-3 SECTION 2. Subchapter F, Chapter 502, Transportation Code,
4-4 is amended by adding Section 502.299 to read as follows:
4-5 Sec. 502.299. SEX OFFENDER LICENSE PLATES. (a) The
4-6 department shall design a special series of license plates for
4-7 motor vehicles of persons convicted of an offense or granted
4-8 deferred adjudication for an offense for which a conviction or
4-9 adjudication requires registration under Chapter 62, Code of
4-10 Criminal Procedure, as added by Chapter 668, Acts of the 75th
4-11 Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, and whose license plates are
4-12 confiscated under Article 42.017, Code of Criminal Procedure.
4-13 (b) The license plates must be designed so that law
4-14 enforcement officials can easily determine when a motor vehicle is
4-15 owned by a sex offender.
4-16 (c) The department shall distribute license plates under
4-17 this section on application of a county tax collector on a form
4-18 designed and supplied by the department.
4-19 SECTION 3. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-20 (b) The change in law made by this Act applies only to a
4-21 person convicted of or granted deferred adjudication for an offense
4-22 committed on or after the effective date of this Act. For purposes
4-23 of this section, an offense was committed before the effective date
4-24 of this Act if any element of the offense occurred before the
4-25 effective date.
4-26 (c) An offense committed before the effective date of this
4-27 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
5-1 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
5-2 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.