SRC-MWN H.B. 2495 77(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   H.B. 2495
By: Haggerty (Armbrister)
Business & Commerce
5/5/2001
Engrossed


DIGEST AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a valet parking service is not required to have
liability insurance. A person who sustains injury or whose property is
damaged by an employee of a valet service that does not have liability
insurance must either pay for the damages out of pocket or have their
insurance cover the costs, which may lead to higher insurance premiums.
H.B. 2495 requires a valet parking service to assume financial
responsibility for each employee who operates a motor vehicle for the
service.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a
state officer, institution, or agency. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Title 7H, Transportation Code, by adding Chapter 686, to
read as follows: 

CHAPTER 686. VALET PARKING SERVICES

Sec. 686.001. DEFINITIONS. Defines "financial responsibility," "public
accommodation," and "valet parking service." 

Sec. 686.002. REQUIREMENT OF FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR VALET PARKING
SERVICES. Prohibits a person from operating a valet parking service unless
financial responsibility for each employee who operates a motor vehicle for
the service is established through certain means. 

Sec. 686.003. EVIDENCE OF FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. (a) Requires the owner
or operator of a valet parking service to provide evidence of financial
responsibility in the same manner as required under Section 601.053. 

(b) Requires the owner or operator of a valet parking service to exhibit,
for public inspection, evidence of financial responsibility at a public
accommodation whose patrons use the service. 

Sec. 686.004. MINIMUM COVERAGE AMOUNTS. (a) Sets forth the minimum amounts
of motor vehicle liability insurance coverage required to establish
responsibility under this chapter. 

(b) Requires the comprehensive general liability insurance to be on a broad
form and provide limits of liability for bodily injury and property damage
of not less than $300,000 combined single limit, or the equivalent. 

(c) Requires the garage insurance to provide limits of liability for bodily
injury and property damage of not less than $300,000 combined single limit,
or the equivalent, and to provide certain coverages. 
 
Sec. 686.005. COMMON LAW DEFENSES. Sets forth provisions regarding the
defense of a party who brings an action. 

Sec. 686.006. OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE IN VIOLATION OF FINANCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY REQUIREMENT; OFFENSE. (a) Provides that a person commits an
offense if the person, while in the course and scope of the person's
employment with a valet parking service, operates a motor vehicle of a
patron of the service without the financial responsibility required by this
chapter. 

(b) Provides that except as provided by Subsections (c) and (d), an offense
under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than
$175 or more than $350. 

(c) Provides that if a person has been previously convicted of an offense
under this section, an offense under this section is a misdemeanor
punishable by a fine of not less than $350 or more than $1,000. 

(d) Authorizes the court, if the court determines that a person who has not
been previously convicted of an offense under this section is economically
unable to pay the fine, to reduce the fine to not less than $175. 

Sec. 686.007. DEFENSE: FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN EFFECT AT TIME OF
ALLEGED OFFENSE. Provides that it is a defense to prosecution under Section
686.002 that the person charged produces one of the documents listed in
Section 601.053 that was valid at the time the offense is alleged to have
occurred. 

SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2001.