By Kuempel                                            H.B. No. 2032
         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 the surrender of suspended driver licenses and vehicle
 1-3     registration.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 521.308, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-6     to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 521.308.  Surrender of License; Return.  (a)  On the
 1-8     suspension or revocation of a license by the department, the
 1-9     department [shall] may require the holder to surrender the license
1-10     to the department.
1-11           (b)  The department [shall] may return a suspended license to
1-12     the holder on the expiration of the suspension period.
1-13           SECTION 2. 
1-14           Sec. 601.372.  Return of Driver's License and Vehicle
1-15     Registration to Department.  (a)  The department shall give written
1-16     notice of a suspension of a driver's license and vehicle
1-17     registration to a person who is required to maintain a motor
1-18     vehicle liability insurance policy or bond under this chapter and
1-19     whose policy or bond is canceled or terminated or who does not
1-20     provide other evidence of financial responsibility on the request
1-21     of the department.
 2-1           (b)  The notice must be by personal delivery to the person or
 2-2     by deposit in the United States mail addressed to the person at the
 2-3     last address supplied to the department by the person.  Notice by
 2-4     mail is presumed to be received on the 10th day after the date the
 2-5     notice is mailed.
 2-6           (a)  The person [shall] may be required by the department to
 2-7     send the person's driver's license and vehicle registrations not
 2-8     later than the 10th day after the date the person receives written
 2-9     notice from the department.
2-10           (b)  Proof of the notice may be made by the certificate of a
2-11     department employee stating that:
2-12                 (1)  the notice was prepared in the regular course of
2-13     business and placed in the United States mail as part of the
2-14     regular organized activity of the department; or
2-15                 (2)  the employee delivered the notice in person.
2-16           (c)  A certificate under Subsection (d)(2) must specify the
2-17     name of the person to whom the notice was given and the time,
2-18     place, and manner of the delivery of the notice
2-19           SECTION 3. 
2-20           Sec. 601.373.  Failure to Return Driver's License or Vehicle
2-21     Registration; Offense.  (a)  A person commits an offense if the
2-22     person wilfully fails to send a driver's license or vehicle
2-23     registration as required by Section 601.372.  An offense under this
2-24     subsection is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed
2-25     $200.
 3-1           [(b)]  The department [shall] may direct a department
 3-2     employee to obtain and send to the department the driver's license
 3-3     and vehicle registration of a person who fails to send the person's
 3-4     license or registration in accordance with Section 601.372.  The
 3-5     director of the department or the person designated by the director
 3-6     may file a complaint against a person for an offense under
 3-7     Subsection (a).
 3-8           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-9           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three consecutive
3-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-14     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-15     passage, and it is so enacted.