BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2346

By: Thibaut

Transportation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current law permits employees designated by a municipality to immobilize illegally parked vehicles and to remove an immobilized vehicle from a public roadway when the vehicle is illegally parked.   Placing a vehicle on the immobilization list is a lengthy process; a vehicle must have multiple delinquent parking citations and the vehicle’s owner must be given several written notices before a vehicle may be immobilized. Houston parking enforcement officers cannot currently remove illegally parked vehicles unless the vehicle has been immobilized or the police department authorizes the tow.  Immobilizing the vehicle does not provide a true remedy, as the vehicles remain illegally parked.  Additionally, the Houston Police Department is short-staffed and response time can be several hours, if at all.

C.S.H.B. 2346 authorizes an employee designated by a municipality with a population of 1.9 million or more to be authorized to have illegally parked vehicles towed from residential parking permit areas, thereby providing immediate relief to the excess commuter parking problems in those areas.  The bill authorizes those employees to immediately remedy the problem of illegal parking in such areas and permits the Houston Police Department to focus on public safety and reducing crime.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2346 amends the Occupations Code to authorize a municipality with a population of 1.9 million or more, to aid in the enforcement of an ordinance regulating the parking of vehicles, to authorize a designated employee to request the removal of a vehicle parked illegally in a tow-away zone in a residential area where on-street parking is regulated by the ordinance.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2009.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2346 specifies that a municipality with a population of 1.9 million or more may authorize a designated employee to request the removal of an illegally parked vehicle, whereas the original does not set forth a specified population.