By Dunnam H.B. No. 3492
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to requiring the Texas Department of Public Safety to
1-3 establish minimum standards for vendors of ignition interlock
1-4 devices.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter L, Chapter 521, Transportation Code,
1-7 is amended by adding Section 521.2476 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 521.2476. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR VENDORS OF IGNITION
1-9 INTERLOCK DEVICES. (a) The department by rule shall establish:
1-10 (1) minimum standards for vendors of ignition
1-11 interlock devices who conduct business in this state; and
1-12 (2) procedures to ensure compliance with those
1-13 standards, including procedures for the inspection of a vendor's
1-14 facilities.
1-15 (b) The minimum standards shall require each vendor to:
1-16 (1) be authorized by the department to do business in
1-17 this state;
1-18 (2) install a device only if the device is approved
1-19 under Section 521.247;
1-20 (3) obtain liability insurance providing coverage for
1-21 damages arising out of the operation or use of devices in amounts
1-22 and under the terms specified by the department;
1-23 (4) install the device and activate any
1-24 anticircumvention feature of the device within a reasonable time
2-1 after the vendor receives notice that installation is ordered by a
2-2 court;
2-3 (5) install and inspect the device in accordance with
2-4 any applicable court order;
2-5 (6) repair or replace a device not later than 48 hours
2-6 after receiving notice of a complaint regarding the operation of
2-7 the device;
2-8 (7) submit a written report of any violation of a
2-9 court order to that court and to the person's supervising officer,
2-10 if any, not later than 48 hours after the vendor discovers the
2-11 violation;
2-12 (8) maintain a record of each action taken by the
2-13 vendor with respect to each device installed by the vendor,
2-14 including each action taken as a result of an attempt to circumvent
2-15 the device, until at least the fifth anniversary after the date of
2-16 installation;
2-17 (9) make a copy of the record available for inspection
2-18 by or send a copy of the record to any court, supervising officer,
2-19 or the department on request; and
2-20 (10) annually provide to the department a written
2-21 report of each service and ignition interlock device feature made
2-22 available by the vendor.
2-23 (c) The department may revoke the department's authorization
2-24 for a vendor to do business in this state if the vendor or an
2-25 officer or employee of the vendor violates:
2-26 (1) any law of this state that applies to the vendor;
2-27 or
3-1 (2) any rule adopted by the department under this
3-2 section or another law that applies to the vendor.
3-3 (d) A vendor shall reimburse the department for the
3-4 reasonable cost of conducting each inspection of the vendor's
3-5 facilities under this section.
3-6 (e) In this section, "offense relating to the operating of a
3-7 motor vehicle while intoxicated" has the meaning assigned by
3-8 Section 49.09, Penal Code.
3-9 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-10 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.