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Texas DMV board adopts multiple rule changes on criminal-history checks, dealer plates, registrations and automated-vehicle procedures
Summary
On Sept. 18 the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles board approved a package of rule readoptions and amendments implementing recent legislative changes and clarifying dealer, registration and adjudicative procedures, including a narrowed fingerprinting requirement for some motor-vehicle business licensing and new rules tied to automated vehicles.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles board on Sept. 18 voted unanimously to adopt a series of rule readoptions and amendments across chapters of the Texas Administrative Code. The changes implement recent legislative measures, revise dealer plate handling, clarify criminal-history fingerprinting for certain motor-vehicle business licenses and create new authorization and adjudicative procedures for automated vehicles.
Why it matters: The rules implement or clarify statutory changes passed by the Texas Legislature in recent sessions and affect dealers, salvage recyclers, motor-carrier operators and regulated licensees. Several items were amended at the board’s request to narrow or clarify agency discretion and to add operational mitigations for dealers.
Votes at a glance
- Agenda item 7 — Rule review and readoption (Ch. 206, 211, 217): Approved unanimously. The board completed the four‑year rule review process for these chapters and readopted provisions not being amended.
- Agenda item 8 — Amendments to Ch. 211 (Criminal history; offenses affecting licenses): Approved unanimously after an amendment to narrow new fingerprinting triggers. The board amended proposed language so the department will seek fingerprints for applicants who have representative/authoritative roles in a business rather than all trust beneficiaries, and clarified that previously fingerprinted applicants generally will not be re-fingerprinted on renewal.
- Agenda item 9 — Dealer plate and industry rules (Ch. 215): Approved unanimously with a friendly amendment to direct staff to add a mitigating factor in the department’s disciplinary matrix for dealers who acquire temporary permits when they have no appropriate plate inventory and are awaiting a shipment from the department.
- Agenda item 10 — Salvage dealer licensing (Ch. 221): Approved unanimously. Rules implement military-related licensing timelines and…
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