79R191 MTB-D

By:  Guillen                                                      H.B. No. 195



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 in the owner's manual for the vehicle.
	(c)  A person who rents a motor vehicle in this state that is 
equipped with a recording device shall disclose that fact to the 
renter of the vehicle.
	(d)  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 on 
court order or with the consent of the owner.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.