HBA-JRA C.S.H.B. 89 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 89 By: Gutierrez Transportation 4/26/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the penalty for a late vehicle registration is 20 percent of the total amount due regardless of how late the penalty is paid. Texas Department of Transportation surveys indicate that an average of four percent of the vehicles being driven on Texas highways have invalid vehicle registrations and the average delinquent registration occurs three to four months after the due date. C.S.H.B. 89 sets forth registration requirements which allow a delinquent registration applicant to register a vehicle without penalty by providing good reason for delinquent registration. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Department of Transportation in SECTION 1 (Section 502.176, Transportation Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 502.176, Transportation Code, as follows: Sec. 502.176. New title: DELINQUENT REGISTRATION. (a) Makes no change. (b) Requires a county assessor-collector that determines that a delinquent registration applicant has provided evidence acceptable to the assessor-collector sufficient to establish good reason for delinquent registration and that the application complies with the other requirements for registration to register the vehicle for a 12-month period that ends on the last day of the 11th month after the month in which the registration occurs. Provides that the registration period for vehicles registered in accordance with Sections 502.164 (Motor Vehicle Used Exclusively to Transport and Spread Fertilizer), 502.167 (Truck-Tractor or Commercial Motor Vehicle Combination Fee; Semitrailer Token Fee), 502.203 (Vehicles Used by Nonprofit Disaster Relief Organizations), 502.255 (Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients), 502.267 (Honorary Consuls), 502.277 (Cotton Vehicles), 502.278 (Certain Soil Conservation Equipment), 502.293 (County Judges), 502.295 (State Officials), Transportation Code, ends on the annual registration date and that the registration fees are prorated. (c) Requires a county assessor-collector that determines that a delinquent registration applicant has not provided evidence acceptable to the assessor-collector sufficient to establish good reason for delinquent registration but that the application complies with the other requirements for registration to register the vehicle for 12-month period without changing the initial month of registration. (d) Authorizes a person who has been arrested or received a citation for a violation of Section 502.402 (Operation of Unregistered Motor Vehicle) to register the vehicle being operated at the time of the offense with the county assessor-collector for a 12-month period without change to the initial month of registration only if the person meets the other requirements for registration and pays an additional charge equal to 20 percent of the prescribed fee. (e) Requires the county assessor-collector to adopt a list of evidentiary items sufficient to establish good reason for delinquent registration under Subsection (b) and provide for the forms of evidence that may be used to establish good reason. Provides that the list of evidentiary items adopted under this section must allow for delinquent registration under Subsection (b) because of extensive repairs on the vehicle, the absence of the owner of the vehicle from this country, seasonal use of the vehicle, or any other reason determined by the assessor-collector to be a valid explanation for the delinquent registration. (f) Requires the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to adopt procedures to implement this section in connection with the delinquent registration of a vehicle registered directly with TxDOT. SECTION 2. Repealer: Section 502.158(f), Transportation Code. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. Provides that this Act applies to any motor vehicle for which the registration fee is delinquent regardless of when the fee originally became delinquent. SECTION 4. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The substitute modifies the original in the caption to make a nonsubstantive change. The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 1 (Section 502.176, Transportation Code) by deleting the proposed amendments to Subsections (b) and (d), which would have prohibited the county assessor-collector from registering a vehicle with a delinquent registration fee unless the owner provided proof, as an alternative to paying an additional charge, that the vehicle had not been operated on a public highway, provided an additional charge; required the collected fees to be disposed of and reported as provided by Sections 502.102 (Disposition of Fees Generally) and 502.105 (Report of Fees Collected) if the county had implemented the Texas Department of Transportation's automated registration and title system or to be sent to the comptroller for deposit to the credit of the state highway fund if the automated system had not been implemented in the county. The substitute proposes new amendments to Subsection (b) and adds new Subsections (c)-(f), which set forth registration requirements which allow a delinquent registration applicant to register a vehicle without penalty by providing good reason for delinquent registration. For a complete analysis of te new text please see the Section-by-Section Analysis portion of this document. The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 2, by repealing Section 502.158(f), Transportation Code. SECTION 1 of the original amended Section 502.158(f) to require that a vehicle registration application filed more than five days, rather than one month, after the prior registration expires, be accompanied by proof, rather than a statement, that the vehicle has not been operated on a public highway since the registration expired, or be accompanied by a delinquent fee under Section 502.176. The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 3 to provide that this Act applies to any motor vehicle for which the registration fee is delinquent regardless of when the fee originally became delinquent, rather than making application of this Act prospective.