Honorable Larry Phillips, Chair, House Committee on Transportation
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2741 by Phillips (Relating to the regulation of motor vehicles by counties and the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles; authorizing a fee; creating an offense.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the various codes as they relate to the regulation of motor vehicles by counties and the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. The provisions of the bill that create new felony criminal offenses are the subject of this analysis. Under the provisions of the bill, certain activities related to Texas Department of Motor Vehicles registration insignia or license plates would be punishable as a felony of the third degree. The change in law for certain activities related to Texas Department of Motor Vehicles license plates would take effect immediately if the bill receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house. Otherwise, the change in law for certain activities related to Texas Department of Motor Vehicles registration insignia or license plates would take effect September 1, 2013.
A felony of the third degree is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 10 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Expanding the list of behaviors for which a criminal penalty is applied is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the state due to longer terms of probation, or longer terms of confinement in county jail, state jail, or prison. For this analysis, it is assumed the number of offenders convicted under the provisions of the bill would not result in a significant impact on the programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources and services of those agencies.