By: Guillen (Senate Sponsor - Whitmire) H.B. No. 588
         (In the Senate - Received from the House April 18, 2011;
  April 20, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on
  Transportation and Homeland Security; May 17, 2011, reported
  favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 17, 2011,
  sent to printer.)
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to surcharges under the Driver Responsibility Program.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 708.157(b), Transportation Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (b)  The department by rule shall [may] offer a holder of a
  driver's license on which a surcharge has been assessed an
  incentive for compliance with the law and efforts at
  rehabilitation, including a reduction of a surcharge or a decrease
  in the length of an installment plan.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter D, Chapter 708, Transportation Code,
  is amended by adding Section 708.159 to read as follows:
         Sec. 708.159.  ADVANCE PAYMENT OF SURCHARGES.  (a)  The
  department shall offer an option for a single up-front payment to a
  person who is assessed an annual surcharge under this chapter to
  allow the person to pay in advance the total amount that will be
  owed for the 36-month period for which the surcharge will be
  assessed.
         (b)  Notice under Section 708.151 of an initial surcharge
  imposed under this chapter must notify the driver's license holder
  of:
               (1)  the total amount the person will owe for the
  36-month period for which the surcharge will be assessed; and
               (2)  the availability of the advance payment option
  under this section.
         (c)  If a person makes a single up-front payment under this
  section in the amount specified in the notice under Subsection
  (b)(1) and the person is not, in the 36-month period for which the
  person made the up-front payment, subsequently convicted of an
  offense requiring a surcharge or an increase in the amount due to
  the department, the department is not required to:
               (1)  take any further action under Section 708.053,
  708.102, 708.103, or 708.104, as applicable; or
               (2)  annually notify the person of the assessment of
  the surcharge under Section 708.151.
         SECTION 3.  Section 708.159, Transportation Code, as added
  by this Act, applies to any total surcharge amounts owed by a person
  for a 36-month period under Chapter 708, Transportation Code,
  regardless of whether the initial annual surcharge was assessed
  before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
 
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