'That woke everyone up:' Inside the fight to eliminate paper license plates in Texas
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) – The men behind the push to outlaw paper license plates are talking about the fight to get the state law passed.
Doug Dunbar recently sat down with Rep. Craig Goldman, who authored HB 718. "Let me just begin by asking, are you surprised that the bill's on the governor's desk?" asked Doug. "I'm not surprised, I'm shocked!" Goldman responded. "Bills like this aren't supposed to pass in one session."
"You file bills like this hoping to begin a conversation," said Goldman. "Hoping that two, four, six years down the line you get them passed in future sessions."
But it only took one attempt. The legislation will change the way license plates are issued in Texas: No more paper, only metal tags. Goldman, who has represented southwestern Tarrant County since 2012, says his interest in the issue began on his road trips to Austin.
"I would take pictures of obviously illegal paper plates, paper plates flapping in the wind, cars with no plates, and jokingly send them to my staff and say, 'We had to do something about this,'" said Goldman.
His office began researching the issue a few years ago. Last fall, just two days before he filed the bill, the paper plate problem hit close to home. Grand Prairie police officer Brandon Tsai died in a crash while chasing a car with a fake tag. Copies of that same tag were spotted on roughly 200 other vehicles in DFW at the time.
That's when police Chief Daniel Scesney joined the fight.
In January, he showed CBS News Texas how easy it is to create a fake. "If you've got a computer and printer at home, you can make a Texas paper tag," he told us. He says a fake plate essentially turns the vehicle into a "ghost car," with no way to trace the owner's name and address.
Then we hit the streets with his officers as they pulled over several vehicles with fake plates. In each case, the driver either didn't have a license, insurance, or proof of ownership.
Scesney made several trips to Austin, meeting individually with lawmakers and making the case for eliminating the paper version.
Goldman says he warned the chief that this would be a marathon, not a sprint. "I told him that day one. You have to be prepared to give it all, but this bill [might] not pass in the first session."
When the House transportation committee held hearings on HB 718, Scesney was there along with officers from several other departments across DFW and the state. "That mattered to members of the committee," said Goldman. "For them to realize that this was a major problem for law enforcement."
Even with police on board, Goldman says he knew it would be an uphill battle with those in the auto industry who did not want change. "They came in privately and said, 'We're opposed to your bill,'" said Goldman. "And to every single one of them I said, 'Okay, bring me your changes, bring me things you can live with.' And they never did, to me. Because they never thought I'd pass it."
When the legislation came up for a vote in the House, Goldman brought personalized props. "We made 150 fake paper tags with everyone's name on them." Chief Scesney says it was important to him that the lawmakers "lay hands on, see it, hold it."
"Having a visual like that... that woke everyone up and that's what got me 145 votes," said Goldman. "But then the work truly began when it got to the Senate, and Senator West took it and said, 'we're going to pass this.'"
Dallas Sen. Royce West held several closed-door meetings with the DMV, auto dealer groups, and county tax officials to hammer out a bill that everyone could live with, saying, "We're going to fix this problem and I want them at the table to help be a part of the solution."
Goldman says Sen. Robert Nichols, the chair of the Senate transportation committee, was also instrumental in moving the legislation through the chamber.
According to Goldman, once the DMV and auto dealers had "buy-in" on the idea, it was just a matter of clarifying the language and making sure the law would not create unintended consequences.
"I will tell you; I didn't meet a single lawmaker that disagreed with me," said Scesney. "I will also tell you I had no idea how challenging it is to get a law passed in Texas. And I'm not picking on anybody. It's just an arduous task to get done and there's lots of stakeholders involved."
Scesney believes the focus on Texans is what helped win the fight. "You've got to think about how many people in Texas are being victimized," he told Doug. "Either through loss of a loved one, their property being stolen, or their back pocket. If you look at it through that lens, then things get fixed."
Rep. Goldman says Scesney is "someone special." The Fort Worth Republican recalled the chief's dedication to being at every meeting and committee hearing, sometimes driving back and forth from Austin multiple times in a day. "He was committed to seeing this through."
While HB 718 is now law, it will not go into effect until July 2025. That gives the DMV two years to build a new inventory and management system. Goldman says it will also allow lawmakers to make any changes or clarifications in the 2025 legislation session ahead of the July 1 effective date.
In Texas, metal plates are made at a state prison in Huntsville. Officials at the Wynne Unit say they are already in talks with the DMV, saying the factory "will be able to handle any increase in production needed."
You don't have to wait until 2025 - you can skip paper now. In Texas, a buyer can fill out a VTR-904 form to transfer the metal plates from their current vehicle to their new vehicle.
Scesney is celebrating the achievement, though it is a bittersweet win for him, Grand Prairie, and the family of Officer Tsai.
"You know, it doesn't bring Brandon back," he said. "But I think they share all of our desire to make this problem go away so that another cop doesn't find themselves in this situation... or a family grieving from the loss of their loved one."
