43 TAC §§5.41 - 5.44
The Texas Department of Transportation adopts new §§5.41-5.44,
concerning the payment of fees for department goods and services. Section
5.44 is adopted with changes to the text as proposed by publication in the
February 11, 2000, issue of the
Texas Register
(25 TexReg 1081). Sections 5.41-5.43 are adopted without changes and will
not be republished.
EXPLANATION OF ADOPTED NEW SECTIONS
House Bill 2247 and Senate Bill 1677, 76th Legislature, 1999, added §201.208
to the Transportation Code to authorize the commission to adopt rules regarding
the method of payment of a fee for any goods sold or services provided by
the department, or for the administration of any department program. Rules
adopted by the commission may authorize the use of electronic funds transfer
or a valid credit card issued by a financial institution chartered by a state
or the United States or by a nationally recognized credit organization approved
by the department. The rules may also require the payment of a discount or
service charge for a credit card payment in addition to the fee.
The department regularly sells goods or provides services to various persons
or entities, including the sale of travel promotional materials and department
publications, and the issuance of licenses, permits, and registrations. These
goods and services may be provided more efficiently by the department, and
with a greater level of customer satisfaction, if those customers could use
readily available means such as credit cards and electronic funds transfers
to pay fees associated with goods and services obtained from the department.
Section 5.41 describes the purpose of the new subchapter, which is to prescribe
acceptable payment methods that may be used by persons or entities to obtain
goods and services from the department, and to prescribe requirements for
payment by a particular method.
Section 5.42 defines words and terms used in the new subchapter.
Section 5.43 prescribes authorized methods of payment. Except as provided
in §5.44, all fees for department goods and services and any fee required
in the administration of any department program may be paid to the department
with certain valid credit cards, by electronic funds transfer, with personal,
business, or cashier's checks, by money order, or by cash in person at locations
made available for that purpose by the department. The new subchapter implements
the authority granted by Transportation Code, §201.208, to accept payment
by credit card or electronic funds transfer, in addition to previously used
methods of payment.
The department will be required to contract with one or more companies
to process credit card payments received by the department. These companies
will also charge the department a specified percentage of total funds received
from credit card sales each month in order to process the transactions (the
discount rate). In order to reduce the fiscal impact on the department resulting
from the acceptance of payments by credit card, §5.43 specifies that
fees may be paid by credit card only if the transaction involves a charge
of at least $5.00, except for certain transactions processed by the department's
Vehicle Titles and Registration (VTR) Division, and that a transaction may
not involve a charge of more than $2,000.
The minimum charge was set to reduce the impact of small transactions on
the fees paid by the department for credit card services. Based on the formula
used to calculate the discount rate, transactions of very small amounts would
cause the department's discount rate to increase, thus increasing the overall
cost to the department. Although transactions of very large amounts would
have the opposite effect on the discount rate, the increase in total funds
would also increase the overall cost. Based upon a review of goods and services
offered by the department for which a required fee could be paid by credit
card, the department determined that transaction amounts between $5.00 and
$2,000 would encompass most of the department's transactions without adversely
affecting the discount rate.
The department's VTR Division provides certain title and registration documents
in very large quantities, many of which have a fee as low as $1.00. While
the department would like to increase efficiency in this customer oriented
function, it would not be feasible to include a $5.00 minimum charge, given
the volume of low cost items provided by the VTR Division. Accordingly, transactions
involving VTR goods and services are not subject to the minimum transaction
amount. The department will request that the companies it contracts with to
process credit card transactions set up a separate account for VTR transactions
with its own discount rate. The separate discount rate will prevent those
transactions from affecting the rate charged for the remainder of the department's
transactions.
After the foregoing review of possible transactions, the department also
determined that the discount rate that would be charged for those transactions
would be approximately 2.25%. This rate is the equivalent of approximately
$1.25 per transaction. In order to act as proper stewards of public funds
while not charging its customers more than the cost to the department of processing
credit card transactions, §5.43 specifies that persons paying by credit
card will pay a service charge of $1.00 per transaction along with the applicable
fee. A service charge in this amount will ensure that the department recovers
as much of its costs as possible without overcharging a customer.
Section 5.44 specifies that the subchapter does not apply to the payment
of motor carrier registration fees under §18.15 of this title (relating
to Payment of Fees), motor transportation broker fees under §18.42 of
this title (relating to Fees), oversize and overweight permit fees under §28.11
of this title (relating to General Oversize/Overweight Permit Requirements
and Procedures), and Internet motor vehicle registration under Chapter 17
of this title (relating to Vehicle Titles and Registration). Each of those
sections prescribes payment methods similar to the ones prescribed in the
new subchapter.
COMMENTS
No comments were received on the proposed new sections. To clarify the
rule and avoid the possibility of future confusion, the department is adopting
with the following change. Section 5.44 is adopted with the additional exception
of Internet motor vehicle registration under Chapter 17. This change does
not affect the substance of the rule at this time, but prevents the possibility
of a later conflict in the event that the department proposes rules relating
to the registration of motor vehicles over the Internet.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY
The new sections are adopted under Transportation Code, §201.101,
which provides the Texas Transportation Commission with the authority to establish
rules for the conduct of the work of the Texas Department of Transportation
and, more specifically, Transportation Code, §201.208, which authorizes
the commission to adopt rules regarding the method of payment of a fee for
any goods sold or services provided by the department, or for the administration
of any department program.
§5.44.Exceptions.
This subchapter does not apply to the payment of motor carrier registration
fees under §18.15 of this title (relating to Payment of Fees), motor
transportation broker fees under §18.42 of this title (relating to Fees),
oversize and overweight permit fees under §28.11 of this title (relating
to Permit Issuance Requirements and Procedures), and Internet motor vehicle
registration under Chapter 17 of this title (relating to Vehicle Titles and
Registration).
This agency hereby certifies that the adoption has been reviewed
by legal counsel and found to be a valid exercise of the agency's legal authority.
Filed with the Office of
the Secretary of State on May 1, 2000.
TRD-200003053
Richard Monroe
General Counsel
Texas Department of Transportation
Effective date: May 21, 2000
Proposal publication date: February 11, 2000
For further information, please call: (512) 463-8630