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Senate Bill 561 and House Bill 309 are currently making their way through the Texas State Legislature, with the aim to eliminate front license plate requirements:
It's simple to email your Texas State Legislators:
Follow this link and enter your street address, then click the links leading directly to the websites of your two Texas State Senators and two Texas State Representatives.
Each of their websites includes a prominent email link to a form in which you can enter your contact information and a message. Here's what I sent:
Feel free to copy or modify my message at your discretion - for my Texas State Representatives, I simply substituted HB 309 in lieu of SB 561. It's not much, but if a few filling out a few web forms helps eliminate the front plate requirement in Texas, I think it's worth doing.
Code:
81R5688 JD-D
By: Jackson, Mike S.B. No. 561
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the number of license plates to be issued for and
displayed on a motor vehicle.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 502, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 502.010 to read as follows:
Sec. 502.010. ISSUANCE AND DISPLAY OF LICENSE PLATE. (a)
Notwithstanding anything in this code to the contrary, including
Section 502.180, the department shall issue only one license plate
for attachment at the rear of the vehicle for which the plate is
issued.
(b) Notwithstanding anything in this code to the contrary,
including Section 502.404(a), a person is entitled to operate on a
public highway a vehicle that displays only one license plate if the
plate is attached at the rear of the vehicle. A person may operate
on a public highway a vehicle that displays two license plates if
both plates were assigned by the department for the registration
period as a set of plates.
(c) In any provision of this code that relates to the
issuance or display of "license plates," "plates," or a "set of
plates," the term means only one license plate.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act regarding the
issuance of license plates by the Texas Department of
Transportation applies only to the issuance of license plates by
the department for a registration period beginning on or after the
effective date of this Act. For a registration period that begins
before the effective date of this Act, the department shall issue
license plates as required by the law in effect immediately before
the effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.Follow this link and enter your street address, then click the links leading directly to the websites of your two Texas State Senators and two Texas State Representatives.
Each of their websites includes a prominent email link to a form in which you can enter your contact information and a message. Here's what I sent:
SB561 - Front License Plate Requirements
I'd like to express my support for SB 561's provision not to require front license plates on Texas automobiles.
I drive a Lotus Elise, a lightweight mid-engined sportscar which received a Federal Bumper Exemption for import in 2005. It provides no bumper support structure and only enough clearance for a narrow european-style license plate - a federal license plate would either be torn off by minimal ground clearance or cause overheating by blocking front radiator intakes. Fortunately, all police officers to date have been understanding of my circumstances and let me go without citation, but I cannot rely on always encountering someone so reasonable.
Law enforcement has a long-established record of performing admirably with only rear license plates on motor vehicles, and front license plates offer no substantial benefits to established regulatory systems, while requiring extra expense and considerable inconvenience to many vehicles on the road.
Please support SB 561 in the spirit of minimal regulation and fair enforcement.
I'd like to express my support for SB 561's provision not to require front license plates on Texas automobiles.
I drive a Lotus Elise, a lightweight mid-engined sportscar which received a Federal Bumper Exemption for import in 2005. It provides no bumper support structure and only enough clearance for a narrow european-style license plate - a federal license plate would either be torn off by minimal ground clearance or cause overheating by blocking front radiator intakes. Fortunately, all police officers to date have been understanding of my circumstances and let me go without citation, but I cannot rely on always encountering someone so reasonable.
Law enforcement has a long-established record of performing admirably with only rear license plates on motor vehicles, and front license plates offer no substantial benefits to established regulatory systems, while requiring extra expense and considerable inconvenience to many vehicles on the road.
Please support SB 561 in the spirit of minimal regulation and fair enforcement.
Feel free to copy or modify my message at your discretion - for my Texas State Representatives, I simply substituted HB 309 in lieu of SB 561. It's not much, but if a few filling out a few web forms helps eliminate the front plate requirement in Texas, I think it's worth doing.
