The History Behind Temporary Dealer Tags

Texas law enforcement has a problem.  Current systems for producing and using temporary vehicle registration tags don’t work and officers can’t search current tags to determine ownership or investigate criminal behavior.  TMPA supported legislation in 2005 and again in 2007 to create a temporary tag with a unique and searchable number to enhance officer safety and criminal investigations.

In 2007, with Senator John Carona of Dallas and Representative Frank Corte of San Antonio authored bills in the Senate and House, respectively that required TxDOT to create and implement a system that features a unique number for each vehicle bearing a temporary tag. The bill would also allow officers to search that number through existing data sources to determine ownership and other valuable information.  Criminal penalties associated with tampering or falsifying temporary tags were enhanced.  The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Rick Perry.

The rule making process for regulatory agencies like TxDOT is usually a difficult one but is the necessary next step.  Stakeholders are invited to participate and the agency makes efforts to address any concerns they may have.  In this case the stakeholders were law enforcement, automobile dealers, and tag vendors.

TMPA has always said that officer safety must be at the forefront of the issue. Tags need to be visible, searchable, and hard to counterfeit to promote officer and citizen safety.  The automobile dealers associations were concerned with accessibility and costs.  The tag vendors were concerned with how any implementation of the rules might affect their business.  In the end, all the stakeholders struck a compromise to ensure the system was safe and implemented in a timely manner. 

The rules, approved last week (March 27th, 2008) allow dealers to print the unique tag on a regular printer and place the tag in a plastic bag designed to protect the tag from the elements.  The tag must then be placed in the area of the vehicle where the license plate normally goes.  The tag must be visible and affixed to the vehicle.  The laws in the Texas Transportation Code governing proper display or illumination have not been changed.  

Although TxDOT and the legislators invited several law enforcement groups to participate in the stakeholders meetings and committee work groups, TMPA, the Dallas Police Association and the Texas Police Chiefs Association were the only law enforcement associations to actually participate.

Now, one law enforcement labor union is playing “Johnny-come-lately” and claiming to be standing up for working cops.  In reality, they were too busy attacking working cops during the last session to be involved in the effort to pass this bill and they now join the American Civil Liberties Union in attacking a legislative solution to massive vehicle registration fraud, vehicle theft and officer safety.

Here are the witness lists for the bills during the committee hearings.