Several people appeared to testify on Goldman’s HB 718 at the House Committee on Transportation on Wednesday in Austin.
During the committee meeting, Goldman said the law wouldn’t be implemented for another two years if it is passed. This would allow the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and dealerships across the state time to adjust to the change. “We’d love to see this sooner rather than later,” he said. “If only the people who are watching at home on their computers could see this room today. It is packed with law enforcement from all over this state.”
He said law enforcement agencies reached out to him after he filed the bill to let him know what a problem fake paper tags are for them. The DMV put out new paper tags last fall to combat fraudulent ones. Within an hour of their release, he said he had a copy of what appeared to be one of the new and improved, anti-fraud paper tags on his desk. It was a fake.
He said the number of crimes committed and lives lost relating to fake paper tags is through the roof. “We truly didn’t know about [the severity of] it until we filed the bill,” he said.
One of the lives lost in connection to a vehicle with fraudulent plates was that of Terrin Solbrig. He died in 2020 at age 18 after he was hit by a pickup truck with fake paper tags. Family and friends of Solbrig turned out to testify in support of the bill in his name. “This is not a victimless crime,” Tawny Solbrig, Terrin’s mom, told the committee. “People’s lives are in danger. This is not just Texas not getting their money back from their Texas toll or registration fees.
“... I don’t know if this is going to fix this issue but this is a better solution than what y’all have in place today.”
Grand Prairie Police Chief Daniel Scesney turned out to testify in support of the bill on behalf of his department, as well as the Texas Police Chiefs Association. He told the committee that just a few months ago one of his officers was killed in a vehicle collision while chasing a vehicle with a fake license plate. “Simply put, anyone with a computer and a printer can create a fraudulent paper tag and they’re being sold on social media right now as we speak,” Scesney said.
Some are using these tags to get around paying for insurance, state inspections or registration fees, and that’s causing the state to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue every year, he said. “But hear me, fraudulent paper tags are a criminal instrument of choice for drug traffickers, human smugglers, auto theft rings, street gangs, street takeover groups and, yes, even cop killers,” he said.“This is not a victimless crime." – Tawny Solbrig, HB 718 supporter
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He said the DMV has made good faith efforts to address the problem, but his department is still seizing fake tags.
But Robert Braziel, CEO of legislative affairs for the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, said he hopes the bill will eventually include some alternative option to hard plates for when they’re not in stock.
He represents some 1,400 dealerships throughout Texas. He said the association is probably one of the biggest users of hard plates in the state. “The one thing we’ve had several discussions with chairman Goldman about is making sure that we have some kind of safety valve if we don’t have a hard plate in stock at the time of a transaction,” Braziel said. “I think those discussions have provided us with the feeling that there needs to be some type of remedy so we’re not left without making a transaction that we have at the time.”
On the day of the committee meeting, Goldman filed a substitute to his bill that would halt its enforcement until 2025. Braziel said that should be enough time to figure out what to do when a dealership runs out of metal tags.
No one with the Dallas Police Department testified on the bill. But Kristin Lowman, a spokesperson for the department, told the Observer in an email that DPD supports Goldman’s paper tag ban. Goldman's bill was left pending in committee. If enacted, the bill would take full effect on March 1, 2025.
