License plate frames to be legal again?

Something we missed last week that should be of interest to those of us who don't really care for getting traffic tickets: Legislation on its way through the state Legislature would relax a state law that makes it illegal to cover any part of a license plate. The law, which the Legislature passed in 2003, outlawed covering any part of a license plate. It was a response to the problem of people breezing through automated toll booths and red-light cameras by covering their license plates with clear, reflective paint that made it hard for license numbers to be read by cameras or optical scanners — but as the law was written, it allowed police to stop, ticket, arrest and search drivers who had any fraction of their license plates covered, even by the frames that car dealers put on new cars' plates. "The law has been used by law enforcement to pull over otherwise law-abiding motorists even though the license plate number and state are readable," according to a state Senate analysis.

The Legislature apparently didn't feel the need to take action on the law until the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled last month that, based on the 2003 statute, covering any part of a license plate is a Class C misdemeanor — though the court didn't agree that the law was worth keeping. "This is an uncommonly bad law," two judges on the appeals court wrote. "Look around you," wrote another. "The vast majority of drivers on Texas roads and highways can be stopped and arrested at any given moment." Exactly — and they have been, based on the experiences of some of Houstonist's friends.

So under a Senate bill authored by Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) and passed last week, license plates are OK as long as their numbers and more than half the names of the states in which the vehicles are registered aren't obscured. A similar bill is about to hit the House; if it's passed, the law will change Sept. 1.

According to the DPS, state troopers have issued 746 tickets for obstructed license plates in the four years the law has been on the books.