Texas 2019 - 86th Regular

Texas House Bill HB2622 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	86R10207 AJZ-F
2	2	By: Phelan H.B. No. 2622
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to surcharges assessed under the driver responsibility
8	8	program; authorizing surcharges; reducing, repealing, and waiving
9	9	surcharges.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. Section 708.053, Transportation Code, is amended
12	12	to read as follows:
13	13	Sec. 708.053. ANNUAL SURCHARGE FOR POINTS. Each year, the
14	14	department shall assess a surcharge on the license of a person who
15	15	has accumulated:
16	16	(1) three or more but fewer than six points under this
17	17	subchapter during the preceding 12-month period; or
18	18	(2) six or more points under this subchapter during
19	19	the preceding 36-month period.
20	20	SECTION 2. Section 708.054, Transportation Code, is amended
21	21	to read as follows:
22	22	Sec. 708.054. AMOUNT OF POINTS SURCHARGE. (a) The amount
23	23	of a surcharge under this chapter is:
24	24	(1) $50 for accumulating three points during the
25	25	preceding 12-month period;
26	26	(2) $60 for accumulating four points during the
27	27	preceding 12-month period;
28	28	(3) $70 for accumulating five points during the
29	29	preceding 12-month period; or
30	30	(4) $100 for accumulating [the first] six points
31	31	during the preceding 36-month period and $25 for each additional
32	32	point in excess of six points accumulated during the preceding
33	33	36-month period.
34	34	(b) The department shall ensure that the amount of any
35	35	surcharge assessed on a person's license under Subsection (a)(1),
36	36	(2), or (3) is credited toward the amount of a surcharge assessed on
37	37	the person's license under Subsection (a)(4) during the same
38	38	36-month period.
39	39	SECTION 3. Section 708.103(b), Transportation Code, is
40	40	amended to read as follows:
41	41	(b) The [Except as provided by Subsection (c), the] amount
42	42	of a surcharge under this section is $50 [$250] per year.
43	43	SECTION 4. Section 708.106, Transportation Code, is amended
44	44	to read as follows:
45	45	Sec. 708.106. DEFERRAL OF SURCHARGES FOR DEPLOYED MILITARY
46	46	PERSONNEL. The department by rule shall establish a deferral
47	47	program for surcharges assessed under Section 708.103 [or 708.104]
48	48	against a person who is a member of the United States armed forces
49	49	on active duty deployed outside of the continental United States.
50	50	The program must:
51	51	(1) toll the 36-month period while the person is
52	52	deployed; and
53	53	(2) defer assessment of surcharges against the person
54	54	until the date the person is no longer deployed for an offense
55	55	committed:
56	56	(A) before the person was deployed; or
57	57	(B) while the person is deployed.
58	58	SECTION 5. Section 708.159(c), Transportation Code, is
59	59	amended to read as follows:
60	60	(c) If a person makes a single up-front payment under this
61	61	section in the amount specified in the notice under Subsection
62	62	(b)(1) and the person is not, in the 36-month period for which the
63	63	person made the up-front payment, subsequently convicted of an
64	64	offense requiring a surcharge or an increase in the amount due to
65	65	the department, the department is not required to:
66	66	(1) take any further action under Section 708.053,
67	67	708.102, or 708.103, [or 708.104,] as applicable; or
68	68	(2) annually notify the person of the assessment of
69	69	the surcharge under Section 708.151.
70	70	SECTION 6. Subchapter D, Chapter 708, Transportation Code,
71	71	is amended by adding Section 708.160 to read as follows:
72	72	Sec. 708.160. WAIVER OF CERTAIN SURCHARGES. (a) The
73	73	department shall waive a surcharge assessed under this chapter on
74	74	or before September 1, 2013.
75	75	(b) This section expires September 1, 2020.
76	76	SECTION 7. Section 708.158, Transportation Code, is amended
77	77	by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c) and (d) to
78	78	read as follows:
79	79	(a) The department shall waive all surcharges assessed
80	80	under this chapter for a person who is indigent. For the purposes
81	81	of this section, a person is considered to be indigent if:
82	82	(1) the person provides the evidence described by
83	83	Subsection (b) to the court; or
84	84	(2) the department determines that the person is
85	85	indigent.
86	86	(c) The department shall, as necessary, in collaboration
87	87	with other state agencies, obtain publicly available information to
88	88	determine whether a person is indigent for purposes of this
89	89	section.
90	90	(d) The standing committees of the senate and house of
91	91	representatives that have jurisdiction over issues related to
92	92	transportation shall jointly conduct a study of methods to improve
93	93	automatic data sharing between the department and other agencies
94	94	for the purpose of determining whether a person is indigent under
95	95	Subsection (c). Not later than December 1, 2020, the committees
96	96	shall submit a report on the findings of the study performed under
97	97	this subsection and the committees' legislative recommendations to
98	98	the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house of
99	99	representatives. This subsection expires January 1, 2021.
100	100	SECTION 8. Sections 708.103(c) and 708.104, Transportation
101	101	Code, are repealed.
102	102	SECTION 9. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
103	103	an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. An
104	104	offense committed before the effective date of this Act is governed
105	105	by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed and the
106	106	former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of
107	107	this section, an offense was committed before the effective date of
108	108	this Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
109	109	SECTION 10. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.