H.B. No. 160




AN ACT

relating to motor vehicles equipped with recording devices.                   
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter K, Chapter 547, Transportation Code, 
is amended by adding Section 547.615 to read as follows:
	Sec. 547.615.  RECORDING DEVICES.  (a)  In this section:                
		(1)  "Owner" means a person who:                                       
			(A)  has all the incidents of ownership of a motor 
vehicle, including legal title, regardless of whether the person 
lends, rents, or creates a security interest in the vehicle;
			(B)  is entitled to possession of a motor vehicle 
as a purchaser under a security agreement; or
			(C)  is entitled to possession of a motor vehicle 
as a lessee under a written lease agreement if the agreement is for 
a period of not less than three months.
		(2)  "Recording device" means a feature that is 
installed by the manufacturer in a motor vehicle and that does any 
of the following for the purpose of retrieving information from the 
vehicle after an accident in which the vehicle has been involved:
			(A)  records the speed and direction the vehicle 
is traveling;      
			(B)  records vehicle location data;                                   
			(C)  records steering performance;                                    
			(D)  records brake performance, including 
information on whether brakes were applied before an accident;
			(E)  records the driver's safety belt status; or                      
			(F)  transmits information concerning the 
accident to a central communications system when the accident 
occurs.
	(b)  A manufacturer of a new motor vehicle that is sold or 
leased in this state and that is equipped with a recording device 
shall disclose that fact in the owner's manual of the vehicle.
	(c)  Information recorded or transmitted by a recording 
device may not be retrieved by a person other than the owner of the 
motor vehicle in which the recording device is installed except:
		(1)  on court order;                                                   
		(2)  with the consent of the owner for any purpose, 
including for the purpose of diagnosing, servicing, or repairing 
the motor vehicle;
		(3)  for the purpose of improving motor vehicle safety, 
including for medical research on the human body's reaction to 
motor vehicle accidents, if the identity of the owner or driver of 
the vehicle is not disclosed in connection with the retrieved 
information; or
		(4)  for the purpose of determining the need for or 
facilitating emergency medical response in the event of a motor 
vehicle accident.
	(d)  For information recorded or transmitted by a recording 
device described by Subsection (a)(2)(B), a court order may be 
obtained only after a showing that:
		(1)  retrieval of the information is necessary to 
protect the public safety; or
		(2)  the information is evidence of an offense or 
constitutes evidence that a particular person committed an offense.
	(e)  For the purposes of Subsection (c)(3):                             
		(1)  disclosure of a motor vehicle's vehicle 
identification number with the last six digits deleted or redacted 
is not disclosure of the identity of the owner or driver; and
		(2)  retrieved information may be disclosed only:                      
			(A)  for the purposes of motor vehicle safety and 
medical research communities to advance the purposes described in 
Subsection (c)(3); or
			(B)  to a data processor solely for the purposes 
described in Subsection (c)(3).
	(f)  If a recording device is used as part of a subscription 
service, the subscription service agreement must disclose that the 
device may record or transmit information as described by 
Subsection (a)(2).  Subsection (c) does not apply to a subscription 
service under this subsection.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2006.                           




______________________________              ______________________________
 
   President of the Senate                               Speaker of the House      

	I certify that H.B. No. 160 was passed by the House on 
February 24, 2005, by the following vote:  Yeas 142, Nays 0, 1 
present, not voting; and that the House concurred in Senate 
amendments to H.B. No. 160 on May 26, 2005, by the following 
vote:  Yeas 141, Nays 0, 2 present, not voting.

                                                  ______________________________
                                                     Chief Clerk of the House   

	
I certify that H.B. No. 160 was passed by the Senate, with 
amendments, on May 24, 2005, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 
0.

                                                  ______________________________
                                                      Secretary of the Senate   



APPROVED: __________________                                                
 
                Date                                                         




 
         __________________                                              
 
              Governor