79R297 MTB-D

By:  McCall                                                       H.B. No. 160



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to motor vehicles equipped with recording devices.                   
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter K, Chapter 547, Transportation Code, 
is amended by adding Section 547.615 to read as follows:
	Sec. 547.615.  RECORDING DEVICES.  (a)  In this section, 
"recording device" means a device that is installed by the 
manufacturer in a motor vehicle and that does any of the following 
for the purpose of retrieving information from the vehicle after an 
accident in which the vehicle has been involved:
		(1)  records the speed and direction the vehicle is 
traveling;       
		(2)  records a history of where the motor vehicle 
travels;           
		(3)  records steering performance;                                     
		(4)  records brake performance, including information 
on whether brakes were applied before an accident;
		(5)  records the driver's safety belt status; or                       
		(6)  transmits information concerning the accident to a 
central communications system.
	(b)  A person who sells or leases a new motor vehicle in this 
state that is equipped with a recording device shall disclose that 
fact to the buyer or lessee of the vehicle.
	(c)  Information recorded or transmitted by a recording 
device may not be retrieved by a law enforcement officer or a 
prosecutor except under a court order or subpoena obtained after a 
showing to a court that:
		(1)  retrieval of the information is necessary to 
protect the public safety;  or
		(2)  the information is evidence of an offense or 
constitutes evidence that a particular person committed an offense.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.