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Sponsor seeks 7‑day requirement for lienholders to deliver vehicle title in H.3701
Summary
Representative Howitt asked the Joint Committee on Transportation to advance H.3701, which would require lienholders to provide a vehicle title within seven days after payment and impose daily fines for noncompliance; sponsors framed the bill as consumer protection for purchasers and lessees.
Representative Howitt told the committee H.3701 would require any lienholder holding a vehicle title to provide it to the purchaser or lessee within seven days of payment, lease buyout, or satisfaction of a financial agreement, and impose a $500 daily fine for noncompliance.
"The creation of the 7 day time line requirement for the transfer of title from lienholder to an individual will hold lienholders accountable and will allow consumers to have access to the vehicle they have bought or financed in a timely manner," Howitt said, explaining that buyers can be left without the use of vehicles when titles are delayed by financing companies.
Sponsors said the bill would protect consumers who have paid off loans or completed leases but still cannot register vehicles because a title remains in a lienholder’s possession. Howitt described cases in which dealerships were blamed even though the delay originated with out‑of‑state finance companies and urged the committee to favorably report the bill.
No formal action was taken by the committee during the hearing. Members did not vote; the hearing record remained open for written testimony.
