81R4442 MTB-D
By: Bolton H.B. No. 1437
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to toll collection by the Texas Department of
Transportation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 228.054(a) and (b), Transportation
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (e) and Section
228.060, the operator of a vehicle, other than an authorized
emergency vehicle, as defined by Section 541.201, that is driven or
towed through a toll collection facility shall pay the proper
toll. The exemption from payment of a toll for an authorized
emergency vehicle applies regardless of whether the vehicle is:
(1) responding to an emergency;
(2) displaying a flashing light; or
(3) marked as an emergency vehicle.
(b) The operator of a vehicle who drives or tows a vehicle
through a toll collection facility and does not pay the proper toll
before the eighth day after driving or towing the vehicle through
the facility commits an offense.
SECTION 2. Section 228.057, Transportation Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
(g) The department shall post at least one sign before the
last exit on a department toll road before a toll collection
facility for which a transponder is the only means of paying the
toll and before the penultimate exit before such a toll collection
facility. The signs must inform motor vehicle operators that the
operators are approaching a toll collection facility for which a
transponder is the only means of paying the toll.
SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 228, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 228.060 to read as follows:
Sec. 228.060. ALTERNATIVE TOLLING METHOD. (a) As an
alternative to requiring payment of a toll at the time a vehicle is
driven or towed through a toll collection facility, the department
shall allow the registered owner of the vehicle to pay the toll
using the department's Internet website before the eighth day after
the date the vehicle is driven or towed through the facility.
(b) The registered owner of a vehicle may not use the
department's Internet website to pay a toll more than twice in any
three-month period.
(c) The department may impose an administrative fee not to
exceed $1 for processing a payment under this section.
SECTION 4. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
Act. For the purposes of this section, an offense is committed
before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
occurs before that date.
(b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.