Bill Text: TX SB298 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to the licensing and regulation of the towing of a vehicle by its owner.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-06 - Left pending in committee [SB298 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-SB298-Introduced.html
 
 
  By: Estes S.B. No. 298
 
 
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the licensing and regulation of the towing of a vehicle
  by its owner.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 2308.002, Occupations Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         Sec. 2308.002.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
               (1)  "Advisory board" means the Towing, Storage, and
  Booting Advisory Board.
               (1-a) "Boot" means a lockable road wheel clamp or
  similar vehicle immobilization device that is designed to
  immobilize a parked vehicle and prevent its movement until the
  device is unlocked or removed.
               (1-b) "Booting company" means a person that controls,
  installs, or directs the installation and removal of one or more
  boots.
               (1-c) "Boot operator" means an individual who installs
  or removes a boot on or from a vehicle.
               (2)  "Commission" means the Texas Commission of
  Licensing and Regulation.
               (3)  "Consent tow" means any tow of a motor vehicle in
  which the tow truck is summoned by the owner or operator of the
  vehicle or by a person who has possession, custody, or control of
  the vehicle. The term does not include an incident management tow or
  a private property tow.
               (4)  "Department" means the Texas Department of
  Licensing and Regulation.
               (5)  "Driver's license" has the meaning assigned by
  Section 521.001, Transportation Code.
               (5-a) "Incident management tow" means any tow of a
  vehicle in which the tow truck is summoned to the scene of a traffic
  accident or to an incident, including the removal of a vehicle,
  commercial cargo, and commercial debris from an accident or
  incident scene.
               (6)  "Nonconsent tow" means any tow of a motor vehicle
  that is not a consent tow, including:
                     (A)  an incident management tow; and
                     (B)  a private property tow.
               (7)  "Parking facility" means public or private
  property used, wholly or partly, for restricted or paid vehicle
  parking. The term includes:
                     (A)  a restricted space on a portion of an
  otherwise unrestricted parking facility; and
                     (B)  a commercial parking lot, a parking garage,
  and a parking area serving or adjacent to a business, church,
  school, home that charges a fee for parking, apartment complex,
  property governed by a property owners' association, or
  government-owned property leased to a private person, including:
                           (i)  a portion of the right-of-way of a
  public roadway that is leased by a governmental entity to the
  parking facility owner; and
                           (ii)  the area between the facility's
  property line abutting a county or municipal public roadway and the
  center line of the roadway's drainage way or the curb of the
  roadway, whichever is farther from the facility's property line.
               (7-a) "Parking facility authorized agent" means an
  employee or agent of a parking facility owner with the authority to:
                     (A)  authorize the removal of a vehicle from the
  parking facility on behalf of the parking facility owner; and
                     (B)  accept service on behalf of the parking
  facility owner of a notice of hearing requested under this chapter.
               (8)  "Parking facility owner" means:
                     (A)  an individual, corporation, partnership,
  limited partnership, limited liability company, association,
  trust, or other legal entity owning or operating a parking
  facility;
                     (B)  a property owners' association having
  control under a dedicatory instrument, as that term is defined in
  Section 202.001, Property Code, over assigned or unassigned parking
  areas; or
                     (C)  a property owner having an exclusive right
  under a dedicatory instrument, as that term is defined in Section
  202.001, Property Code, to use a parking space.
               (8-a) "Private property tow" means any tow of a vehicle
  authorized by a parking facility owner without the consent of the
  owner or operator of the vehicle.
               (9)  "Property owners' association" has the meaning
  assigned by Section 202.001, Property Code.
               (10)  "Public roadway" means a public street, alley,
  road, right-of-way, or other public way, including paved and
  unpaved portions of the right-of-way.
               (11)  "Tow truck" means a motor vehicle, including a
  wrecker, equipped with a mechanical device used to tow, winch, or
  otherwise move another motor vehicle. The term does not include:
                     (A)  a motor vehicle owned and operated by a
  governmental entity, including a public school district;
                     (B)  a motor vehicle towing:
                           (i)  a race car;
                           (ii)  a motor vehicle for exhibition; or
                           (iii)  an antique motor vehicle;
                     (C)  a recreational vehicle towing another
  vehicle;
                     (D)  a motor vehicle used in combination with a
  tow bar, tow dolly, or other mechanical device if the vehicle is not
  operated in the furtherance of a commercial enterprise;
                     (E)  a motor vehicle that is controlled or
  operated by a farmer or rancher and used for towing a farm vehicle;
  [or]
                     (F)  a motor vehicle that:
                           (i)  is owned or operated by an entity the
  primary business of which is the rental of motor vehicles; and
                           (ii)  only tows vehicles rented by the
  entity; or
                     (G)  a motor vehicle used to tow a vehicle
  belonging to the owner of the motor vehicle.
               (12)  "Towing company" means an individual,
  association, corporation, or other legal entity that controls,
  operates, or directs the operation of one or more tow trucks over a
  public roadway in this state but does not include a political
  subdivision of the state.
               (13)  "Unauthorized vehicle" means a vehicle parked,
  stored, or located on a parking facility without the consent of the
  parking facility owner.
               (14)  "Vehicle" means a device in, on, or by which a
  person or property may be transported on a public roadway. The term
  includes an operable or inoperable automobile, truck, motorcycle,
  recreational vehicle, or trailer but does not include a device
  moved by human power or used exclusively on a stationary rail or
  track.
               (15)  "Vehicle owner" means a person:
                     (A)  named as the purchaser or transferee in the
  certificate of title issued for the vehicle under Chapter 501,
  Transportation Code;
                     (B)  in whose name the vehicle is registered under
  Chapter 502, Transportation Code, or a member of the person's
  immediate family;
                     (C)  who holds the vehicle through a lease
  agreement;
                     (D)  who is an unrecorded lienholder entitled to
  possess the vehicle under the terms of a chattel mortgage; or
                     (E)  who is a lienholder holding an affidavit of
  repossession and entitled to repossess the vehicle.
               (16)  "Vehicle storage facility" means a vehicle
  storage facility, as defined by Section 2303.002, that is operated
  by a person who holds a license issued under Chapter 2303 to operate
  the facility.
         SECTION 2.  Section 2301.151, Occupations Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         Sec. 2308.151.  LICENSE REQUIRED. Unless the person holds
  an appropriate license under this subchapter, a person may not:
               (1)  perform towing operations;
               (2)  operate a towing company;
               (3)  perform booting operations; or
               (4)  operate a booting company.
  Nothing in this subchapter shall require a person towing a vehicle
  belonging to the person to obtain a license.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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