Honorable Dan Flynn, Chair, House Committee on Defense & Veterans' Affairs
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3343 by Wilson (Relating to the issuance of specialty license plates to honor certain Purple Heart recipients; imposing a fee.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend Chapter 504 of the Transportation Code to require the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue specialty license plates for recipients of a Purple Heart award by the Department of Public Safety or another law enforcement agency in Texas. The fee for the plate would be $3.00. The bill would stipulate that a person issued the specialty plate shall be issued one set of plates without payment of the registration fee required under Chapter 502 of the Transportation Code.
DMV reports that one-time information technology costs would be incurred to implement the new specialty plate. Based on the information provided by DMV, it is assumed any costs associated with implementing the bill could be absorbed within the agency's existing resources.
The bill would allow an eligible person to apply for a first set of the new specialty plates without payment of any registration fee other than the specialty plate fee of $3.00, which would be deposited to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Fund (TxDMV Fund). For each initial set of the specialty plates issued there would be a gain of $3.00 to the TxDMV Fund from the plate fee and losses to the State Highway Fund, TxDMV Fund, and to the counties relating the exemption from payment of the regular vehicle registration fee, registration processing and handling fee, and other state and local fees paid at the time of registration. Based on the information and analysis provided by DMV, it is assumed issuance of the new specialty plate without payment of other registration fees required under Chapter 502 would not result in a significant fiscal impact to the State.
Local Government Impact
The issuance of initial sets of the new specialty license plates without payment of other vehicle registration fees would result in a loss of revenue from registration fees other local optional fees assessed by the counties and other units of local government. Based on the analysis provided by DMV, the impact to units of local government is not anticipated to be significant.