SRC-TAG S.B. 1222 78(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   S.B. 1222
78R4366 JD-FBy: Hinojosa
Intergovernmental Relations
3/24/2003
As Filed


DIGEST AND PURPOSE 

Currently, municipalities face a number of problems in utilizing Section
502.173, Transportation Code, which was passed in 1995, by the 74th
Legislature to allow an optional county fee for child safety via school
crossing guards.  Vehicle owners outside the municipalities see no benefit
from this statute and small communities do not have school crossing guard
programs.  On the other hand, some cities need additional funding for
crossing guards; however, the commissioners court may be hesitant to
impose the fee.  As proposed, S.B. 1222 creates a new section of the
Transportation Code that establishes a mechanism to allow individual
cities to impose a fee for child safety.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Department of
Transportation in SECTION 1 (Section 502.1735(l), Transportation Code) of
this bill. 
 
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Chapter 502D, Transportation Code, by adding Section
502.1735, as follows: 

Sec.  502.1735.  OPTIONAL MUNICIPAL FEE FOR CHILD SAFETY.  (a)  Defines
"school crossing guard." 

(b)  Establishes that this section applies only to a municipality that
provides the use of school crossing guards to facilitate the safe crossing
of streets by children going to or leaving public, parochial, or private
elementary or secondary schools. 

(c)  Authorizes the governing body of the municipality by ordinance to
impose an additional fee for child safety.  Requires the ordinance to
specify the amount of the fee, which may not exceed $3. 

(d)  Provides that an additional fee imposed under this section is payable
when the owner of a motor vehicle who resides in the municipality applies
for the registration or the renewal of the registration of the vehicle,
except the fee is prohibited from being imposed or collected in connection
with the registration or registration renewal of a vehicle that may be
registered under this chapter without payment of a registration fee. 

(e)  Authorizes an additional fee imposed under this section to take
effect only on January 1 of a year.  Requires the governing body of
municipality to enact the ordinance and provide a copy of the ordinance to
the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) by September 10 of the year
preceding the year the fee takes effect. 

(f)  Authorizes the governing body of the municipality by ordinance to
increase or decrease the amount of the additional fee imposed under this
section or to repeal the fee.  Establishes that an increase , decrease, or
repeal may take effect only on January  1 of a year.  Requires the
governing body of the municipality to provide a copy of the ordinance to
the TxDOT by September 1 of the year preceding the year that the increase,
decrease, or repeal takes effect. 

(g)  Requires a county assessor-collector to collect the additional fee
when the fees imposed under this chapter are collected. 

(h)  Authorizes the county assessor-collector to deduct for administrative
cost an amount not exceeding 10 percent of each additional fee collected
by the assessorcollector.  Requires the county assessor-collector, after
making the deductions, to send the remainder of the fee to the
municipality. 

(i)  Requires a municipality with a population that exceeds 850,000 to
deposit revenue from a fee imposed under this subsection to the credit of
the child safety trust fund created under Section 106.001 (Creation of
Child Safety Trust Fund in Certain Municipalities), Local Government Code.
Requires a municipality with a population less than 850,000 to use revenue
from a fee imposed under this section in accordance with Article
102.014(g) (Court Costs for Child Safety Fund in Municipalities), Code of
Criminal Procedure.  

(j)  Requires TxDOT, if a motor vehicle may not be registered without
payment of the additional fee, to list the amount of the additional fee on
the registration receipt for the vehicle and on each renewal notice sent
to the owner of the vehicle.  Requires the fee to be described as the "
City of____ Child Safety Fee." 

(k)  Prohibits the optional county fee for child safety under Section
502.173 from being imposed or collected in connection with the
registration or registration renewal of a motor vehicle that may not be
registered without payment of the additional fee under this section. 

(l)  Requires TxDOT to adopt rules and forms to administer and enforce
this section. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2003.