By: McCall, et al. H.B. No. 160
(Senate Sponsor - Wentworth)
(In the Senate - Received from the House February 28, 2005;
March 30, 2005, read first time and referred to Committee on
Transportation and Homeland Security; May 13, 2005, reported
adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following
vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 13, 2005, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 160 By: Wentworth
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:
(1) "Owner" means a person who:
(A) has all the incidents of ownership of a motor
vehicle, including legal title, regardless of whether the person
lends, rents, or creates a security interest in the vehicle;
(B) is entitled to possession of a motor vehicle
as a purchaser under a security agreement; or
(C) is entitled to possession of a motor vehicle
as a lessee under a written lease agreement if the agreement is for
a period of not less than three months.
(2) "Recording device" means a feature 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:
(A) records the speed and direction the vehicle
is traveling;
(B) records vehicle location data;
(C) records steering performance;
(D) records brake performance, including
information on whether brakes were applied before an accident;
(E) records the driver's safety belt status; or
(F) transmits information concerning the
accident to a central communications system when the accident
occurs.
(b) A manufacturer of a new motor vehicle that is sold or
leased in this state and that is equipped with a recording device
shall disclose that fact in the owner's manual of the vehicle.
(c) Information recorded or transmitted by a recording
device may not be retrieved by a person other than the owner of the
motor vehicle in which the recording device is installed except:
(1) on court order;
(2) with the consent of the owner for any purpose,
including for the purpose of diagnosing, servicing, or repairing
the motor vehicle;
(3) for the purpose of improving motor vehicle safety,
including for medical research on the human body's reaction to
motor vehicle accidents, if the identity of the owner or driver of
the vehicle is not disclosed in connection with the retrieved
information; or
(4) for the purpose of determining the need for or
facilitating emergency medical response in the event of a motor
vehicle accident.
(d) For information recorded or transmitted by a recording
device described by Subsection (a)(2)(B), a court order may be
obtained only after a showing 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.
(e) For the purposes of Subsection (c)(3):
(1) disclosure of a motor vehicle's vehicle
identification number with the last six digits deleted or redacted
is not disclosure of the identity of the owner or driver; and
(2) retrieved information may be disclosed only:
(A) for the purposes of motor vehicle safety and
medical research communities to advance the purposes described in
Subsection (c)(3); or
(B) to a data processor solely for the purposes
described in Subsection (c)(3).
(f) If a recording device is used as part of a subscription
service, the subscription service agreement must disclose that the
device may record or transmit information as described by
Subsection (a)(2). Subsection (c) does not apply to a subscription
service under this subsection.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2006.
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