SRC-JBJ S.B. 1828 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center S.B. 1828 77R10308 JAT-DBy: Lindsay State Affairs 4/30/2001 As Filed DIGEST AND PURPOSE Under current Texas law, a single procedure is used to register all vehicles. Annually, the Texas Department of Transportation (department) mails out to a vehicle owner a renewal notice for each vehicle. In some instances, the department is required to send numerous bills to a single commercial entity that owns many vehicles. That entity must then return each notice of renewal to the county tax assessor or the state for processing. As proposed, S.B. 1828 allows the department to establish procedures for the registration of a fleet of vehicles. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Department of Transportation in SECTION 1 (Section 502.0022, Transportation Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 502A, Transportation Code, by adding Section 502.0022, as follows: Sec. 502.0022. CONSOLIDATED REGISTRATION OF FLEET VEHICLES. (a) Requires the Texas Department of Transportation (department) to develop and implement a system of registration so that an owner of a fleet of motor vehicles may consolidate the registration of the motor vehicles in the fleet as an alternative to the separate registration of each motor vehicle in the fleet. (b) Requires a system of consolidated registration under this section to allow the owner of a fleet of motor vehicles to register an entire fleet of motor vehicles in the county of the owner's residence or principal place of business or those vehicles in a fleet of vehicles that are operated most regularly in the same county by registering the vehicles in that county. (c) Requires the department by rule to define "fleet" for purposes of this section. (d) Authorizes the department to adopt rules to administer this section. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2001.