HBA-CCH H.B. 1661 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1661 By: Alexander Transportation 2/27/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, the Texas Transportation Commission (commission) and the Texas Turnpike Authority (authority) lack the authority to implement an automated system to enforce proper payment at toll facilities. Without automatic vehicle identification, the proper collection of toll fees requires the potentially hazardous and costly use of law enforcement personnel. Automatic vehicle identification photography and video surveillance at toll facilities can provide the date, location, and other relevant information for identifying a violator's vehicle. House Bill 1661 authorizes the commission and the authority to implement an automated enforcement system at toll facilities, and establishes criminal penalties for a failure to pay a required toll or administrative fee. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1661 amends the Transportation Code to authorize the Texas Transportation Commission (commission) and the Texas Turnpike Authority (authority) to use automated enforcement technology that it determined to be necessary to enforce the proper payment of toll fees, including automatic vehicle license plate identification photography and video surveillance. The bill provides that automated enforcement technology may only be used for the purpose of producing, depicting, photographing, or recording an image of a license plate attached to the front or rear of a vehicle. The bill prohibits the image from being utilized for any offense other than a failure to pay a proper toll (Secs. 224.160 and 361.256). The bill requires an operator of a vehicle, other than an authorized emergency vehicle, that is driven or towed through a toll collection facility to pay the proper toll. An operator who fails to pay the proper toll commits a misdemeanor that is punishable by a fine not to exceed $250 (Secs. 224.155 and 361.252). H.B. 1661 provides that if the registered owner of a vehicle has leased that vehicle or has transferred ownership of the vehicle and subsequently is mailed a written notice of nonpayment, the owner is required to provide a written notice of the transfer to the Texas Department of Transportation (department) no later than the 30th day after the written notice is mailed. If the lessor or former owner provides the required information, the department or the transportation corporation is authorized to send by first-class mail a notice of nonpayment to the lessee or new owner at the address shown in the contract. The bill provides that responsibilities and penalties apply to the lessee or new owner and that each failure to pay a toll or administrative fee is a separate offense. The bill requires a court that convicts a person of this offense to collect the proper toll and administrative fee and to forward the toll and fee to the department or to the transportation corporation (Sec. 224.156). The bill authorizes that in the prosecution of an offense, proof of a toll violation may be shown by a video recording, photograph, electronic recording, or other appropriate evidence, including evidence obtained by automated enforcement technology. The bill provides that in the prosecution of an offense, it is presumed that the notice of nonpayment was received on the fifth day after the date of mailing the information regarding the offense, a computer record of the department of the registered owner of the vehicle is prima facie evidence of its contents and that the defendant was the registered owner of the vehicle when the offense occurred. The bill also provides that a copy of the rental, lease, or other contract document concerning the vehicle on the date of the offense is prima facie evidence of its contents and that the defendant was the lessee of the vehicle at the time of the offense (Secs. 224.157 and 361.254). The bill clarifies provisions regarding the procedures for enforcing proper payment at toll facilities, the prosecution of an offense for nonpayment, and the collection and distribution of monies from fees and penalties (Secs. 224.156, 224.157, 224.158, 361.252, 361.253, and 361.255). EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.