HBA-DMH H.B. 2508 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2508 By: Danburg Transportation 4/5/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In recent years, specialty license plates have offered Texas citizens the opportunity to support the topic or issue of their choice. Fee revenue generated by the sale of such plates is deposited into a fund which defrays the costs incurred by specialty license plate programs. There is a desire for additional funds to support community forestry efforts by the Texas Forest Service, and members of the public have expressed a desire to accomplish this through the sale of specially designed license plates. House Bill 2508 requires the Texas Department of Transportation to issue specially designed license plates designed in consultation with Texas Urban Forestry Council that will benefit urban and community tree programs. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2508 amends the Transportation Code to require the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to issue specially designed license plates for passenger cars and light trucks. The bill requires TxDOT to design the license plates in consultation with the Texas Urban Forestry Council. The bill sets forth requirements for fees and issuance of the license plates designed in consultation with the Texas Urban Forestry Council. The bill authorizes a $5 portion of each fee collected for the license plates to be used to defray TxDOT's administration costs. The bill requires TxDOT to deposit the remainder of each fee collected for the license plates to the credit of the Texas Urban Forestry Council account in the state treasury. The bill authorizes money in the account to be used only by the Texas Forest Service to support the activities of a designated statewide 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose primary purposes are sponsoring urban and community tree planting, urban and community tree preservation, and urban and community tree education programs. If the owner of a vehicle registered with the license plates disposes of the vehicle during the registration year, the bill requires the owner to return the license plates to TxDOT. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.