BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 838

By: Deshotel

Homeland Security & Public Safety

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that past partnerships between state agencies and private sector vendors have been successful in delegating and reducing certain administrative burdens. There have been calls to provide for an agreement between the Department of Public Safety and a private vendor for various services relating to the issuance and administration of renewal and duplicate driver's licenses and personal identification certificates. C.S.H.B. 838 seeks to address this issue by providing for such an agreement.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

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. 838 amends the Transportation Code to authorize the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to enter into an agreement under the program for the provision of certain driver's license and identification certificate services with a private vendor to permit vendor employees to provide services at a location determined by the vendor relating to the issuance of renewal and duplicate driver's licenses, election identification certificates, and personal identification certificates. The bill requires a participating private vendor to remit to DPS fees collected for the issuance of a renewal or duplicate driver's license or personal identification certificate. The bill includes a private vendor that provides services under a program agreement among the entities providing such services that may collect an additional fee for each transaction provided that relates to driver's license and personal identification certificate services only and raises the cap on the fee from $5 to $10.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 838 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute raises from $5 to $10 the cap on the additional fee that a county or municipality providing services under a program agreement may collect for each transaction provided that relates to driver's license and personal identification certificate services only.