The Motor Vehicle Industry Regulation Advisory Committee on Monday reviewed proposed Texas Department of Motor Vehicles rule changes that would reshape how the agency allocates and distributes buyer license plates to motor vehicle dealers.

Annette Quintero, director of the Vehicle Titles and Registration Division at the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, told the advisory committee the draft amendments to chapter 2.15 would allow dealers to request smaller quarterly allocations, request reduced annual allotments when they use less than 50% of their allocation, and provide alternative ways to obtain plates if a dealer becomes ineligible for direct shipments. "They may obtain plates through county tax assessor-collectors or TXDMV regional service offices as directed," Quintero said.

The changes would move initial shipments to department-driven fulfillment only for the initial allocation; subsequent shipments would be dealer-ordered. "Dealers will order as they need for their second shipment, their second quarterly allotment," Quintero said. She also said requests for increased allotments would require business documentation such as sales reports.

Committee members urged clearer communications and online self-service. Member Donnelly said email responses to dealers have been "insufficient" and requested a portal or inventory-management view so dealers can audit their allocations and shipments. Quintero said the department has a dedicated team handling dealer allocation emails and is timing email notifications to stages of the distribution warehouse process; she acknowledged there have been "growing pains" and said about 10 staff are assigned to the dealer allocations inbox to handle the volume.

Members also raised sequencing and tracking of plate numbers. Member Duran asked whether plates are tracked sequentially and whether the system can flag unexpected gaps. Quintero said every manufactured plate has an identifier and the department plans to require plate-number entry at transactions after July 1 to reduce manual data-entry errors and help ensure plates are used in sequence.

Quintero and committee members discussed alternatives for dealers who will not receive direct shipments to their location: regional service centers or county tax offices may serve as alternate pickup points, and the department will notify dealers when that is necessary. "We are attempting to identify an alternative pickup location for those license plates so that we can resolve whatever might be pending," Quintero said.

The committee did not take a formal vote on the draft rule text. Staff told members the proposed rules will go to the TXDMV board in July; committee members asked for clearer timing for annual allocation notices and for the department to consider using the inventory system as a communication vehicle.

Less-critical details: members debated whether the department should set a single annual date for allocation notices; Quintero said the new process is still maturing and the agency prefers not to lock a specific calendar date into rule language at this time.