Police from across Texas meet in Austin, showing support for legislation to get rid of paper tags
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) – The fight against fake license plates took another step forward Wednesday in Austin, as police from across Texas gathered to show support for legislation that would get rid of paper tags altogether.
The House Transportation Committee heard testimony from people for and against HB 718, filed by Fort Worth area Representative Craig Goldman. "The moment we filed this bill last November we heard from law enforcement all over the state, we heard what a problem the paper plates are."
Among the departments that made the trip, Grand Prairie Police Chief Daniel Scesney and several of his officers. The issue is personal for them; in November a GPPD officer died in a crash while chasing a car with a fraudulent paper plate.
"Anyone with a computer and a printer can create a fraudulent paper tag," Scesney told committee members. To prove his point, he made one for each of them.
"It took me about two minutes," said Scesney. "And I encourage you to pull out your cell phones and scan that QR code. You won't be able to tell the difference between that and the DMV's website."
It's something we saw for ourselves when we rode along with GPPD officers in January, as they pulled over fake after fake. In each case, the driver either didn't have a license, insurance, or proof of ownership.
In addition to the officers that testified, a Texas mother spoke about the loss of her 17-year-old son in 2020.
"He was hit by a driver of a truck head-on," said Tawny Solbrig, adding that the pickup had a fake license plate. "There were title issues, it came from a junk yard, so it got passed from person to person, and each time, every 90 days it got a new paper tag."
Each person who testified was allotted two minutes. Solbrig used hers to challenge lawmakers. "What are you going to do today? Are you going to listen? Are you going to take action? Or are you just going to sweep it under the rug and let the criminals get away with it?"
Not everyone is onboard with the bill. A spokesperson for the Texas Auto Dealers Association spoke about concerns from dealers about how to safely store metal plates, and what would happen if they didn't have enough plates to assign to every sale.
Two tax assessor-collecters also testified about the impact the bill would have on smaller counties.
"If a tax-assessor collector distributes 500 plates to a dealer and they go out of business the next day, who collects those plates back from the dealer?" asked Shay Luedeke, the tax assessor-collector of Bell County.
Supporters of the bill admit there are hurdles, but they believe those challenges can be overcome. Rep. Goldman has already amended the bill to lengthen the timeline for the elimination of paper plates from September 2023 to March 2025. On Wednesday, the committee left the bill pending, but Goldman is confident that with the right help, he can get the bill to the finish line.
"I want to bring all of the people involved in this to the table," said Goldman. "Tax assessor-collecters, the DMV, the car dealers, everyone involved in this. I'm not in the business, they are."
"I'm not going anywhere," said Chief Scesney. "I'm going to keep screaming it from the rooftops until we get rid of paper tags in Texas."
