1-1     By:  Hawley (Senate Sponsor - Bernsen)                H.B. No. 3014
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1999;
 1-3     May 6, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on State
 1-4     Affairs; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the Texas Department of Transportation's automated
 1-9     registration and title system.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 502, Transportation Code,
1-12     is amended by adding Section 502.1705 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 502.1705.  ADDITIONAL FEE FOR AUTOMATED REGISTRATION AND
1-14     TITLE SYSTEM.  (a)  In addition to other registration fees for a
1-15     license plate or set of license plates or other device used as the
1-16     registration insignia, a fee of $1 shall be collected.
1-17           (b)  The department may use money collected under this
1-18     section only to:
1-19                 (1)  enhance the department's automated registration
1-20     and title system;
1-21                 (2)  provide for the automated on-site production of
1-22     registration insignia; and
1-23                 (3)  provide for automated on-premises and off-premises
1-24     self-service registration.
1-25           (c)  This section applies only in a county in which the
1-26     department's automated registration and title system has been
1-27     implemented and in which 50,000 or more motor vehicles were
1-28     registered during the preceding year.
1-29           SECTION 2.  Section 502.180(e), Transportation Code, is
1-30     amended to read as follows:
1-31           (e)  The department shall adopt rules for the issuance and
1-32     use of license plates and registration insignia issued under this
1-33     chapter.  The rules shall provide for the use of an automated
1-34     registration process, including:
1-35                 (1)  the automated on-site production of registration
1-36     insignia; and
1-37                 (2)  automated on-premises and off-premises
1-38     self-service registration.
1-39           SECTION 3.  Sections 502.184(a) and (i), Transportation Code,
1-40     are amended to read as follows:
1-41           (a)  The owner of a registered motor vehicle may obtain from
1-42     the department through the county assessor-collector replacement
1-43     license plates or a replacement registration insignia by:
1-44                 (1)  filing with the assessor-collector a statement:
1-45                       (A)  showing that one or both of the license
1-46     plates or the registration insignia to be replaced has been lost,
1-47     stolen, or mutilated; and
1-48                       (B)  stating that no license plate or
1-49     registration insignia to be replaced will be used on any vehicle
1-50     owned or operated by the person making the statement;
1-51                 (2)  paying a fee of $5 plus the fees [fee] required by
1-52     Sections [Section] 502.170(a) and 502.1705(a) for each set of
1-53     replacement license plates or each replacement registration
1-54     insignia, except as provided by Subsection (b), (c), or (i); and
1-55                 (3)  returning to the assessor-collector each replaced
1-56     plate or registration insignia in the owner's possession.
1-57           (i)  The owner of a vehicle listed in Section 502.180(h) may
1-58     obtain replacement plates and a replacement registration insignia
1-59     by paying a fee of $5 plus the fees [fee] required by Sections
1-60     [Section] 502.170(a) and 502.1705(a).
1-61           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-62           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-63     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-64     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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