By: Hagenbuch S.B. No. 2705
(In the Senate - Filed March 13, 2025; April 3, 2025, read
first time and referred to Committee on Transportation;
April 16, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 8,
Nays 0; April 16, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to fees for the issuance of certain specialty license
plates and an exemption from vehicle registration for certain
trailers, semitrailers, tractors, and implements of husbandry.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 502, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 502.147 to read as follows:
Sec. 502.147. CERTAIN FARM TRAILERS, FARM SEMITRAILERS,
FARM TRACTORS, AND IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. An owner is not
required to register a farm trailer or farm semitrailer with a gross
weight of 4,000 pounds or less or a farm tractor or an implement of
husbandry if the trailer, semitrailer, tractor, or implement is
operated only temporarily on the highways.
SECTION 2. Section 504.3015(a), Transportation Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) A person applying for a set of license plates under this
subchapter shall pay the registration fee required under Chapter
502 and the applicable special plate fee required under this
section, except that one set of license plates shall be issued
without the payment of the registration fee under:
(1) Section 504.308;
(2) Section 504.310(b);
(3) Section 504.315, other than Subsections (c) and
(q) of that section; [and]
(4) Section 504.316; and
(5) Section 504.319.
SECTION 3. Section 504.512, Transportation Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (b) to read as follows:
(b) There is no fee for issuance of the license plates.
SECTION 4. Section 504.513, Transportation Code, is amended
by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(a) The department shall issue specialty license plates
for:
(1) volunteer firefighters certified by:
(A) the Texas Commission on Fire Protection; or
(B) the State Firefighters' [Firemen's] and Fire
Marshals' Association of Texas; and
(2) fire protection personnel as that term is defined
by Section 419.021, Government Code.
(c) There is no fee for issuance of the license plates.
SECTION 5. Section 504.516, Transportation Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) There is no fee for issuance of the license plates.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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