Epic fail from the Texas legislature

[IonRL205 10+ year member]

Texas License Plates Become Optional

Texas License Plates Become Optional

Texas legislature accidentally deletes penalty for failing to display a license plate.

 

Texas license plateA number of special interest groups have fought over the design of specialty license plates in Texas over the past few weeks. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People cheered the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) board last month for rejecting a "Sons of Confederate Veterans" plate the group found racially offensive. An American Indian group blasted a plate honoring the Buffalo Soldiers, a regiment of black troops who served in the US Army from the end of the Civil War through 1951. These plate conflicts may turn out to be unnecessary because beginning on January 1, 2012, the use of license plates in the Lone Star State becomes optional.

 

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, current law mandates the display of two license plates -- one at the front and another at the rear of a vehicle. Failure to comply is a misdemeanor offense punishable by a $200 fine under Texas Code Section 502.404. As part of a sweeping revision of the state vehicle code, however, that provision will soon disappear.

 

House Bill 2357 was intended as a non-controversial 234-page update to existing law. It passed the state House on May 29 voted 139-6 and the state Senate 31-0, receiving the signature of Governor Rick Perry ® on June 17.

 

"The motor vehicle statutes were codified in 1995, but there has not been a complete reorganization of substance since before that time," Representative Joseph Pickett (D-El Paso) wrote in his justification of the legislation. "This bill directly addresses the problem of the statutes being outdated in regard to automation and organization."

 

As part of the update, the new law deleted the license plate statute, returning parts of it to Section 502.473 and 504.943. In moving around the legal language, the bill went through the entire legislative process without anybody noticing that a key line was deleted without providing a replacement: "An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $200."

 

Without the line, it is not clear whether police officers or courts would have the authority to impose a punishment on drivers who chose not to display license plates or registration stickers, especially in jurisdictions that still use red light cameras. Driving with a false or altered plate remains a misdemeanor, however. Lawmakers will not have a chance to remedy their mistake until January 8, 2013 when the legislature reconvenes, unless Governor Perry calls a special session specifically to address the license plate issue.

Haha gonna take mine off on Jan 1st

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[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

Hopefully my Vettes and truck will never have to don a front license plate EVER again.

 

[CAT MAN 5,000+ posts]

shaweet lucky you

 

[skylineTT 10+ year member]

LOL I never had a front license plate on any of my cars that didn't come with them. My chick got pulled for no front plate in her '11 GT500 and I told the cop that we aren't putting screws into $65k car. We got off with a "warning." Same thing happened a week later in my benz, same outcome.

 

[CAT MAN 5,000+ posts]

LOL I never had a front license plate on any of my cars that didn't come with them. My chick got pulled for no front plate in her '11 GT500 and I told the cop that we aren't putting screws into $65k car. We got off with a "warning." Same thing happened a week later in my benz, same outcome.

thats the way to do it. if they want to pay for my new bumper so be it but when i lived in VA the plate for the front was on the dash. i never got pulled

 

[05trailblazer 10+ year member]

never had mines in the front either. oh n the licence plate too lol

 

[IonRL205 10+ year member]

Cops are douches here. If you don't have it on your bumper they will be gay about it. Used to be able to have it in your window or on your visor, but not anymore. Hopefully this goes through lol

 

[skylineTT 10+ year member]

yeah they will let you use the window here as long as it isnt covered by the stickers. I didn't even bother with that either

 

[bigwheel15 10+ year member]

I have front and rear plates on everything, screw giving a cop a reason to pull me over.

 

[aztec 10+ year member]

Im not going to put front plates in my g35 coupe. It didn't come with front plates bracket so im not adding front plates... I haven't been pulled over yet. But if they do, then the front plate will be going on the front window dash. Been driving like that for the past 6 months or so...

 

[skylineTT 10+ year member]

I had the braket taken off of mine and had the holes sealed and painted. lol

lol that'a boy.

 

[brodeisel 10+ year member]

Iowa it is only 90 bucks for no front license plate.