unpaid ethics fines cost you your driver’s license

The text as introduced · 469 words

89R17293 MZM-D

By: Birdwell
S.B. No. 2205

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the revocation of a driver's license for failure to pay

a civil penalty imposed by the Texas Ethics Commission.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 571, Government Code, is

amended by adding Section 571.178 to read as follows:

Sec. 571.178. REVOCATION OF DRIVER'S LICENSE. If a person

does not pay a civil penalty imposed by the commission within 60

days of the date the commission imposed the civil penalty, and the

civil penalty has not otherwise been waived under this subchapter,

the commission shall notify the Texas Department of Public Safety

and request that the department revoke the person's driver's

license.

SECTION 2. Section 521.294, Transportation Code, is amended

to read as follows:

Sec. 521.294. DEPARTMENT'S DETERMINATION FOR LICENSE

REVOCATION. The department shall revoke the person's license if

the department :

(1) determines that the person:

(A) [ (1) ] is incapable of safely operating a

motor vehicle;

(B) [ (2) ] has not complied with the terms of a

citation issued by a jurisdiction that is a party to the Nonresident

Violator Compact of 1977 for a traffic violation to which that

compact applies;

(C) [ (3) ] has failed to provide medical records

or has failed to undergo medical or other examinations as required

by a panel of the medical advisory board;

(D) [ (4) ] has failed to pass an examination

required by the director under this chapter; or

(E) [ (5) ] has committed an offense in another

state or Canadian province that, if committed in this state, would

be grounds for revocation ; or

(2) is notified by the Texas Ethics Commission in

accordance with Section 571.178, Government Code, that the person

has not paid a civil penalty imposed by the commission within 60

days following the date the civil penalty was imposed .

SECTION 3. Section 521.312(c), Transportation Code, is

amended to read as follows:

(c) The department may not reinstate a license revoked under

Section 521.294(1)(E) [ 521.294(5) ] until the court that filed the

report for which the license was revoked files an additional report

on final disposition of the case.

SECTION 4. Section 571.178, Government Code, as added by

this Act, applies only to the payment of a civil penalty or fine

imposed by the Texas Ethics Commission on or after the effective

date of this Act. The payment of a civil penalty or fine imposed by

the Texas Ethics Commission before the effective date of this Act is

governed by the law in effect on the date the penalty or fine was

imposed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.