89R10903 AND-F

By: Hinojosa of Hidalgo S.B. No. 2668

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to regulation of vehicle storage facilities and the approval and regulation by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles of Internet websites for the public sale of certain abandoned vehicles by vehicle storage facility operators.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 2303.151, Occupations Code, is amended by adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:

(h) Proof of delivery of notice provided under this section must be evidenced by:

(1) a United States Postal Service electronic certified mail receipt, United States Postal Service dated domestic return receipt, or United States Postal Service firm mailing book for accountable mail; and

(2) if applicable, any unopened certified letter returned as:

(A) undeliverable;

(B) unclaimed;

(C) refused; or

(D) without a forwarding address.

SECTION 2. Section 2303.154(a), Occupations Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) If a vehicle is not claimed by a person permitted to claim the vehicle before the 10th day after the date notice is mailed or published under Section 2303.151 or 2303.152, the operator of the vehicle storage facility shall consider the vehicle to be abandoned and[, if required by the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction where the vehicle is located,] report the abandonment to the appropriate law enforcement agency with jurisdiction. If the law enforcement agency notifies the vehicle storage facility that the agency will send notices and dispose of the abandoned vehicle under Subchapter B, Chapter 683, Transportation Code, the vehicle storage facility shall pay the fee required under Section 683.031, Transportation Code.

SECTION 3. Section 2303.157(b), Occupations Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) An operator entitled to dispose of a vehicle under this section shall [may] sell the vehicle at a public sale through an Internet website approved by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles under Section 2303.1575. The operator is not required to obtain [without obtaining] a release or discharge of any lien on the vehicle, regardless of whether notice was provided by mail or by publication under this chapter. The proceeds from the sale of the vehicle shall be applied to the charges incurred for the vehicle under Section 2303.155. The operator shall pay any excess proceeds to the person entitled to those proceeds.

SECTION 4. Subchapter D, Chapter 2303, Occupations Code, is amended by adding Section 2303.1575 to read as follows:

Sec. 2303.1575. INTERNET WEBSITE FOR PUBLIC SALE OF ABANDONED VEHICLE; REQUIREMENTS FOR SALE. (a) The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles shall approve one or more persons to operate an Internet website to conduct the public sale of abandoned vehicles under Section 2303.157.

(b) The board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles shall adopt rules to implement this section, including rules:

(1) prescribing the manner and form of an application for approval under Subsection (a);

(2) establishing eligibility requirements for approval under Subsection (a);

(3) regulating the operation of an Internet website approved under Subsection (a); and

(4) authorizing the revocation of a person's approval under Subsection (a) as necessary to enforce a violation of this section or a rule adopted under this section.

(c) A vehicle storage facility operator entitled to dispose of a vehicle under Section 2303.157 shall submit the vehicle for sale to an Internet website approved by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles under Subsection (a) in accordance with this section and rules adopted under Subsection (b). The vehicle storage facility operator shall provide to the Internet website photographs with a full view of the vehicle's front, rear, driver's side, and passenger's side.

(d) A vehicle storage facility operator may not submit a vehicle for sale under Subsection (c) that is a salvage motor vehicle because of damage caused exclusively by flooding unless the facility has disclosed the damage to the Internet website and the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and the vehicle title bears any notation required by Section 501.09112(d), Transportation Code. A vehicle storage facility operator who submits a vehicle for sale under Subsection (c) in violation of this subsection is liable to the purchaser of the vehicle for three times the cost to repair the undisclosed damage and any attorney's fees.

(e) A finding that a vehicle storage facility operator has violated Subsection (d) more than once is grounds for the commission to revoke the operator's license as provided by Section 51.353.

SECTION 5. Section 152.002(b), Tax Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) "Total consideration" does not include:

(1) a cash discount;

(2) a full cash or credit refund to a customer of the sales price of a motor vehicle returned to the seller;

(3) the amount charged for labor or service rendered in installing, applying, remodeling, or repairing the motor vehicle sold;

(4) a financing, carrying, or service charge or interest on credit extended on a motor vehicle sold under a conditional sale or other deferred payment contract;

(5) the value of a motor vehicle taken by a seller as all or a part of the consideration for sale of another motor vehicle, including any cash payment to the buyer under Section 348.404 or 353.402, Finance Code;

(6) a charge for transportation of the motor vehicle after a sale;

(7) motor vehicle inventory tax; [or]

(8) an amount made available to the customer under Subchapter G, Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code; or

(9) storage fees for a motor vehicle sold under Section 2303.157, Occupations Code, or Subchapter B, Chapter 683, Transportation Code.

SECTION 6. The following provisions of the Occupations Code are repealed:

(1) Section 2303.151(g); and

(2) Section 2303.154(f).

SECTION 7. As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, the board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles shall adopt the rules required under Section 2303.1575, Occupations Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 8. The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter 2303, Occupations Code, apply only to a vehicle received in storage on or after the effective date of this Act. A vehicle received in storage before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the vehicle was received in storage, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 9. The change in law made by this Act to Section 152.002(b), Tax Code, does not affect tax liability accruing before the effective date of this Act. That liability continues in effect as if this Act had not been enacted, and the former law is continued in effect for the collection of taxes due and for civil and criminal enforcement of the liability for those taxes.

SECTION 10. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.