Over the past 15 years, Southwest Tow Operators has been on the front lines working on your behalf before the Legislature and the agencies that regulate our businesses. Your membership and contribution to our organization is vital to continuing our work to protect our industry during the legislative session which begins this month.
Below is a short list of accomplishments:
Added tow operators to the Move Over Act
Reporting of abandoned vehicles to law enforcement will now only be required if the law enforcement agency requires it.
Tax offices cannot require proof of delivery (only proof of mailing) for notification letter in order to process a storage lien. Therefore, if you accidently sent the first or second notice letter a few days late, you can still sell the vehicle without going to district court for a title.
We changed the law where you now can “relocate” a vehicle for a property owner without facing a penalty from the agency.
Use of warning sticker for expired tags, instead of a certified letter.
Fixed storage lien issue.
Killed the following initiatives over the years
Require a property owner to be present at the time of tow
VSF’s to store vehicles free for the 1st 24 hours
Cargo to be released at no charge
TDLR to regulate Incident Management tows and put a CAP on IM tow fees
Rights of vehicle owner be printed on tow signs
Give vehicle owners 180 days to file for tow hearing
Other important items that STO worked on and supported:
The dual towing/VSF license has been eliminated. Licensed tow operators will now be able to work in a VSF without a special license.
State booting operator and company licenses were repealed. Booting will now be regulated at the local level.
The Towing and Storage Advisory board will now be made up of nine members, 5 industry members and 4 other (2 law enforcement, 1 insurance, and 1 parking facility representative). We will have an opening for a new towing/VSF member since the booting member has been eliminated. We will now have more representation from industry than from “other” which is a very good thing.
This session a few of the issues we will be working on:
Increase the daily storage fee.
Increasing the penalties for those who violate the Move Over Act.
Fin off any harmful bills that would negatively affect your business and the industry.
Fix PPI issues to clarify and legalize towing for violation of PP rules.
Fix car hauler language from 2015 session.
Tow hearing language clean up
Thank you to all our supporting members.
If your not a member please call 972-247-9454 and find out how you can help or visit our web-site at www.swtowop.org