Bill Text: TX HB2622 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to surcharges assessed under the driver responsibility program; authorizing surcharges; reducing, repealing, and waiving surcharges.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-11 - Referred to Homeland Security & Public Safety [HB2622 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB2622-Introduced.html
86R10207 AJZ-F | ||
By: Phelan | H.B. No. 2622 |
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relating to surcharges assessed under the driver responsibility | ||
program; authorizing surcharges; reducing, repealing, and waiving | ||
surcharges. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 708.053, Transportation Code, is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 708.053. ANNUAL SURCHARGE FOR POINTS. Each year, the | ||
department shall assess a surcharge on the license of a person who | ||
has accumulated: | ||
(1) three or more but fewer than six points under this | ||
subchapter during the preceding 12-month period; or | ||
(2) six or more points under this subchapter during | ||
the preceding 36-month period. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 708.054, Transportation Code, is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 708.054. AMOUNT OF POINTS SURCHARGE. (a) The amount | ||
of a surcharge under this chapter is: | ||
(1) $50 for accumulating three points during the | ||
preceding 12-month period; | ||
(2) $60 for accumulating four points during the | ||
preceding 12-month period; | ||
(3) $70 for accumulating five points during the | ||
preceding 12-month period; or | ||
(4) $100 for accumulating [ |
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during the preceding 36-month period and $25 for each additional | ||
point in excess of six points accumulated during the preceding | ||
36-month period. | ||
(b) The department shall ensure that the amount of any | ||
surcharge assessed on a person's license under Subsection (a)(1), | ||
(2), or (3) is credited toward the amount of a surcharge assessed on | ||
the person's license under Subsection (a)(4) during the same | ||
36-month period. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 708.103(b), Transportation Code, is | ||
amended to read as follows: | ||
(b) The [ |
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of a surcharge under this section is $50 [ |
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SECTION 4. Section 708.106, Transportation Code, is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 708.106. DEFERRAL OF SURCHARGES FOR DEPLOYED MILITARY | ||
PERSONNEL. The department by rule shall establish a deferral | ||
program for surcharges assessed under Section 708.103 [ |
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against a person who is a member of the United States armed forces | ||
on active duty deployed outside of the continental United States. | ||
The program must: | ||
(1) toll the 36-month period while the person is | ||
deployed; and | ||
(2) defer assessment of surcharges against the person | ||
until the date the person is no longer deployed for an offense | ||
committed: | ||
(A) before the person was deployed; or | ||
(B) while the person is deployed. | ||
SECTION 5. Section 708.159(c), Transportation Code, is | ||
amended to read as follows: | ||
(c) If a person makes a single up-front payment under this | ||
section in the amount specified in the notice under Subsection | ||
(b)(1) and the person is not, in the 36-month period for which the | ||
person made the up-front payment, subsequently convicted of an | ||
offense requiring a surcharge or an increase in the amount due to | ||
the department, the department is not required to: | ||
(1) take any further action under Section 708.053, | ||
708.102, or 708.103, [ |
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(2) annually notify the person of the assessment of | ||
the surcharge under Section 708.151. | ||
SECTION 6. Subchapter D, Chapter 708, Transportation Code, | ||
is amended by adding Section 708.160 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 708.160. WAIVER OF CERTAIN SURCHARGES. (a) The | ||
department shall waive a surcharge assessed under this chapter on | ||
or before September 1, 2013. | ||
(b) This section expires September 1, 2020. | ||
SECTION 7. Section 708.158, Transportation Code, is amended | ||
by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c) and (d) to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(a) The department shall waive all surcharges assessed | ||
under this chapter for a person who is indigent. For the purposes | ||
of this section, a person is considered to be indigent if: | ||
(1) the person provides the evidence described by | ||
Subsection (b) to the court; or | ||
(2) the department determines that the person is | ||
indigent. | ||
(c) The department shall, as necessary, in collaboration | ||
with other state agencies, obtain publicly available information to | ||
determine whether a person is indigent for purposes of this | ||
section. | ||
(d) The standing committees of the senate and house of | ||
representatives that have jurisdiction over issues related to | ||
transportation shall jointly conduct a study of methods to improve | ||
automatic data sharing between the department and other agencies | ||
for the purpose of determining whether a person is indigent under | ||
Subsection (c). Not later than December 1, 2020, the committees | ||
shall submit a report on the findings of the study performed under | ||
this subsection and the committees' legislative recommendations to | ||
the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house of | ||
representatives. This subsection expires January 1, 2021. | ||
SECTION 8. Sections 708.103(c) and 708.104, Transportation | ||
Code, are repealed. | ||
SECTION 9. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to | ||
an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. An | ||
offense committed before the effective date of this Act is governed | ||
by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed and the | ||
former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of | ||
this section, an offense was committed before the effective date of | ||
this Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date. | ||
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |