Front license plate bill in legislature again

I will do so.

 

...thanks for the heads-up!..

...i've managed to talk my way out of tickets previously by flashing my federal bumper exemption and demonstrating how a north american plate would significantly obstruct airflow to the cooling system, but i know i can't count on always encountering such reasonable enforcement officers...

 

Done. I just sent my state senator an email encourageing support for the bill.

 

Bump.

Just emailed Allan Vaught from my district.

 

Got a very nice reply back within a couple of hours.

Everyone here in TX jump in, join the democratic process.

 

I really hope to someday go with the no front mount plates. I can't stand the look of them on my Rx7 or MazdaSpeed. I have yet to stop someone for it. Really kills the look of the car.

 

Sent emails off today. Thanks for the info Tillman.

 

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:

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.​

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.

 

my thoughts exactly.

 

Easier to read if cut/pasted in here:

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.

 

just sent in my thoughts to the Reps, too. Thx for the heads up, maybe we'll get lucky this time.

Short/edited version I used:

I'd like to express my support for SB 561's provision
not to require front license plates on Texas
automobiles. I drive a vehicle on which front plates
don't easily attach and are prone to damage and being
easily knocked off.
Thx,
xxxx

 

NOPE!

DISCLAIMER: The above statement may be fictitious about a legitimate situation or the truth about a fictitious moment. The user does not express, condone, represent the rules of the state or country. Anything taken beyond the remark in a moment of self clarification or opinion is just that. Reading this retarded disclaimer does not constitue a free ride on the radar, unless it's a cool car j/k(see: McLaren F1). Otherwise if you took the time to read this disclaimer which is currently longer than my actual intended post, I'd appreciate it if you have the McLaren F1 owner contact me

 

I will try to get in touch with the McLaren owner.....

 

Just sent to State Sen. John Carona:


Dear Sir,

I would like to express my support for provisions in SB561 (HB309) that front license plates not be required on Texas-registered automobiles.

On an overall,large scale, I don't think the front-plate requirement is an essential or necessarily helpful aid for law-enforcemnt officers.

On a more personal level, the current law is onerous for auto-enthusiast owners of classic-registered vehicles, older sports vehicles, and special interest vhicles, most of who drive these regularly and proudly, and are generally more mature, more safety-aware, and more law-abiding drivers than the average.

Many, if not most, of our vehicles of this type were not designed for a front license plate, and having to display a front plate often creates road-clearance and cooling-air intake problems. A prime example of a car that suffers from both of the above problems with a front plate attached is my 1983 Ferrari 308GTS, a very low-slung, wedge-shaped classic Italian sports car.

In addition,the original designers of these cars generally did not consider a front plate as a component of aesthetic characteristics,and being required to display one one often seriously compromises the appearance of a classic or sports automobile.

Your positive conideration of the needs of the auto-enthisiast communtity in voting to support this bill would be greatly appreciated by many, many unsually-conscientious and law-abiding drivers.


Sincerely,

Scott Amis

Dallas, Texas

 

To stay on topic, I sent my letter today....See if I get a response. For the above, I missed seeing one when the owner(friends said he was really nice) was at the Ferrari dealership here checking on another car. They tried calling me, but had my phone off because I worked the night shift. That was approximately 2 years ago. Since then, my phone is on 24 hours a day, lol. I could die tomorrow(if I didn't have a wife and kids I love) if I could just sit in the driver's seat, lol.

Anyone really think this will pass this time? I hate that it keeps getting rejected.

 

I think it has a chance this time. To do so would be wise, economically. Try to figure the cost of the metal for the plates, the reflective ink and holograms for printing, price of postage, and the extra hours of use spare to the presses that are used to manufacture them. It could be a very wise decision on the Capitol's part, and beneficial for cars (okay, for us) as well as for the rest of the state.

 

I am in El Paso and cross the Rio Grande into Juarez, Chihuaha, Mexico occaisonally...
If you don't know the drug cartels are at war and there were about 1600 killings in Juarez last year. Juarez is now off limits to the Army guys we have here in El Paso. I only go when I have to but I only like to have my car license in the front window... The proposed bill may be good for the rest of Texas, but for me I think I'll buy and old clunker ane use it to cross when I have to and walk away from it if there's a problem...
Yes, I will write the state, but only to insist that they support the Mexican Army who are on the streets, protecting the civilians, The cartel war will end when the U S greed for illegal drugs is gone... sounds impossibe? Maybe, but I can dream...
Just thought I'd give a different slant on the plate deal...
I like what I've read on other parts of this site on hydorgen/owygen cells and am in process of getting some to install...
Jerry E. El Paso

 

Any updates on this bill?

 

...i received a letter from my state (representative, senator, can't remember which) last week saying he'd keep his eye open for the bill if it makes it out of committee...he made specific reference to my car, so it wasn't a form letter - i suppose that bodes well...

 

I hope so, because I was sent form letters back from my supposed representatives.

John

 

Every year this thing gets put down. How come motorcycles aren't required to run a front plate? Theres got to be some kind of loophole that if motorcycles can run without it so can cars.

 

But then out of spite, they would probably force a helmet law for both cars and bikes.