Bill Text: TX HB4296 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to the use of dyed diesel fuel to operate a motor vehicle during and for a limited period following certain disasters.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-05-26 - Removed from local & uncontested calendar [HB4296 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB4296-Introduced.html

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By: Burns H.B. No. 4296

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the use of dyed diesel during a state of disaster.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 162, Tax Code, is amended
by adding Section 162.236 to read as follows:
Section 162.236. USE OF DYED FUEL IN A DISASTER AREA. (a)
Notwithstanding any other law, a person may use taxable motor fuel
that contains dye in the fuel supply tank in an area subject to a
declaration of a state of disaster under Section 418.014,
Government Code, or a local state of disaster under Section
418.108, Government Code.
(b) The Texas Division of Emergency Management shall
approve the use of dyed fuel in an area subject to a disaster
declaration.
SECTION 2. Section 162.403, Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 162.403. CRIMINAL OFFENSES. Except as provided by
Section 162.404, a person commits an offense if the person:
(1) refuses to stop and permit the inspection and
examination of a motor vehicle transporting or using motor fuel on
the demand of a peace officer or the comptroller;
(2) is required to hold a valid trip permit or
interstate trucker's license, but operates a motor vehicle in this
state without a valid trip permit or interstate trucker's license;
(3) transports gasoline or diesel fuel in any cargo
tank that has a connection by pipe, tube, valve, or otherwise with
the fuel injector or carburetor or with the fuel supply tank feeding
the fuel injector or carburetor of the motor vehicle transporting
the product;
(4) sells or delivers gasoline or diesel fuel from a
fuel supply tank that is connected with the fuel injector or
carburetor of a motor vehicle;
(5) owns or operates a motor vehicle for which reports
or mileage records are required by this chapter without an
operating odometer or other device in good working condition to
record accurately the miles traveled;
(6) sells or delivers dyed diesel fuel for the
operation of a motor vehicle on a public highway;
(7) uses dyed diesel fuel for the operation of a motor
vehicle on a public highway except as allowed under Sections
[Section] 162.235 or 162.236;
(8) refuses to permit the comptroller or the attorney
general to inspect, examine, or audit a book or record required to
be kept by a license holder, other user, or any person required to
hold a license under this chapter;
(9) refuses to permit the comptroller or the attorney
general to inspect or examine any plant, equipment, materials, or
premises where motor fuel is produced, processed, blended, stored,
sold, delivered, or used;
(10) refuses to permit the comptroller, the attorney
general, an employee of either of those officials, a peace officer,
an employee of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or an
employee of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to
measure or gauge the contents of or take samples from a storage tank
or container on premises where motor fuel is produced, processed,
blended, stored, sold, delivered, or used;
(11) is a license holder, a person required to be
licensed, or another user and fails or refuses to make or deliver to
the comptroller a report required by this chapter to be made and
delivered to the comptroller;
(12) is an importer who does not obtain an import
verification number when required by this chapter;
(13) purchases motor fuel for export, on which the tax
imposed by this chapter has not been paid, and subsequently diverts
or causes the motor fuel to be diverted to a destination in this
state or any other state or country other than the originally
designated state or country without first obtaining a diversion
number;
(14) conceals motor fuel with the intent of engaging
in any conduct proscribed by this chapter or refuses to make sales
of motor fuel on the volume-corrected basis prescribed by this
chapter;
(15) refuses, while transporting motor fuel, to stop
the motor vehicle the person is operating when called on to do so by
a person authorized to stop the motor vehicle;
(16) refuses to surrender a motor vehicle and cargo
for impoundment after being ordered to do so by a person authorized
to impound the motor vehicle and cargo;
(17) mutilates, destroys, or secretes a book or record
required by this chapter to be kept by a license holder, other user,
or person required to hold a license under this chapter;
(18) is a license holder, other user, or other person
required to hold a license under this chapter, or the agent or
employee of one of those persons, and makes a false entry or fails
to make an entry in the books and records required under this
chapter to be made by the person or fails to retain a document as
required by this chapter;
(19) transports in any manner motor fuel under a false
cargo manifest or shipping document, or transports in any manner
motor fuel to a location without delivering at the same time a
shipping document relating to that shipment;
(20) engages in a motor fuel transaction that requires
that the person have a license under this chapter without then and
there holding the required license;
(21) makes and delivers to the comptroller a report
required under this chapter to be made and delivered to the
comptroller, if the report contains false information;
(22) forges, falsifies, or alters an invoice or
shipping document prescribed by law;
(23) makes any statement, knowing said statement to be
false, in a claim for a tax refund filed with the comptroller;
(24) furnishes to a licensed supplier or distributor a
signed statement for purchasing diesel fuel tax-free and then uses
the tax-free diesel fuel to operate a diesel-powered motor vehicle
on a public highway;
(25) holds an aviation fuel dealer's license and makes
a taxable sale or use of any gasoline or diesel fuel;
(26) fails to remit any tax funds collected or
required to be collected by a license holder, another user, or any
other person required to hold a license under this chapter;
(27) makes a sale of dyed diesel fuel tax-free into a
storage facility of a person who:
(A) is not licensed as a distributor, as an
aviation fuel dealer, or as a dyed diesel fuel bonded user; or
(B) does not furnish to the licensed supplier or
distributor a signed statement prescribed in Section 162.206;
(28) makes a sale of gasoline tax-free to any person
who is not licensed as an aviation fuel dealer;
(29) purchases any motor fuel tax-free when not
authorized to make a tax-free purchase under this chapter;
(30) purchases motor fuel with the intent to evade any
tax imposed by this chapter or accepts a delivery of motor fuel by
any means and does not at the same time accept or receive a shipping
document relating to the delivery;
(31) transports motor fuel for which a cargo manifest
or shipping document is required to be carried without possessing
or exhibiting on demand by an officer authorized to make the demand
a cargo manifest or shipping document containing the information
required to be shown on the manifest or shipping document;
(32) imports, sells, uses, blends, distributes, or
stores motor fuel within this state on which the taxes imposed by
this chapter are owed but have not been first paid to or reported by
a license holder, another user, or any other person required to hold
a license under this chapter;
(33) blends products together to produce a blended
fuel that is offered for sale, sold, or used and that expands the
volume of the original product to evade paying applicable motor
fuel taxes;
(34) evades or attempts to evade in any manner a tax
imposed on motor fuel by this chapter;
(35) delivers compressed natural gas or liquefied
natural gas into the fuel supply tank of a motor vehicle and the
person does not hold a valid compressed natural gas and liquefied
natural gas dealer's license; or
(36) makes a tax-free delivery of compressed natural
gas or liquefied natural gas into the fuel supply tank of a motor
vehicle, unless the delivery is exempt from tax under Section
162.356.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.