HBA-NRS C.S.S.B. 391 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 391 By: Wentworth Public Safety 5/4/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) enforces compulsory motor vehicle inspections for the state. The management of vehicle data for the inspection system is done manually, which can be both time consuming and labor intensive for DPS and the various inspection stations. C.S.S.B. 391 requires DPS to automate the data collection process for a compulsory motor vehicle inspection system in certain counties and authorizes DPS to charge a fee for the purpose of funding automation. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Department of Public Safety in SECTION 1 (Section 548.006, Transportation Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS C.S.S.B. 391 amends the Transportation Code to require the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to develop and administer procedures to automate the compulsory motor vehicle inspection system and its compliance and enforcement. The bill authorizes DPS, as a condition of certifying a person as an inspection station, to require the applicant to participate in the automated inspection system. The bill provides that the automated inspection system must include asymmetric cryptosystem security protection or a digital signature for each inspector who accesses the system and must assure compliance with and enforcement of the system through technology that provides current data using a remote process and that can be read using existing or new technologies. The bill defines "asymmetric cryptosystem" to mean a computer-based system that uses two different but mathematically related keys or passwords, one of which encrypts a given message and the other of which decrypts that message, and is designed so that if one key or password is known, it is computationally infeasible to determine the other. The bill defines "digital signature" to mean an electronic identifier intended by the person using it to have the same force and effect as the use of a manual signature. The bill authorizes DPS, as a condition of certifying a person as an inspector, to require the applicant to agree that the person's asymmetric cryptosystem password or key or the person's digital signature is equivalent to the person's written signature, and to agree that the person is legally responsible for any inspection performed under the person's asymmetric cryptosystem password or key or under the person's digital signature. The bill provides that the use of asymmetric cryptosystem security protection is subject to the criminal laws pertaining to fraud and computer crimes. The bill authorizes DPS to enter into one or more contracts with another person to implement the automation of inspection procedures. If DPS enters into a contract for the implementation of the automated inspection system, the bill prohibits the contractor from disclosing to any person data that is related to the automated inspection system and collected by the contractor. The bill requires DPS by rule to require a motor vehicle registered in a county using the automated compulsory motor vehicle inspection system to be inspected in any county using the same system. C.S.S.B. 391 authorizes DPS to impose a fee not to exceed $1.00 for each safety inspection certificate sold to an inspection station located in the applicable counties to provide funding for the automated inspection system. The bill authorizes an inspection station to impose a fee, in addition to certain other fees, not to exceed the amount of any fee previously imposed for each inspection. The bill requires DPS to deposit fees collected under the automated inspection system to the credit of the automated inspection system account in the general revenue fund, which may be appropriated only to DPS for the development, testing, implementation, and administration of the automated inspection system. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.S.B. 391 modifies the original bill to narrow the application of the Act to specific counties, rather than all counties. The substitute also requires a motor vehicle registered in a county using the automated compulsory motor vehicle inspection system to be in any county using the same system. The substitute also authorizes the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to impose a fee not to exceed $1.00 for each safety inspection certificate sold to an inspection station located in an applicable county to provide funding for the system. In the original bill, the fee was not to exceed $1.25, which would have been reduced to 75 cents in four years.