Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, August 31, 2010,
Item 21
>> 21 is to consider and take appropriate action relating to the counterfeit motor vehicle inspection certificate program, cmvip. A, receive briefing on the status of the cmvip, a pilot program to identify vehicles that have counterfeit state inspection certificates. B, request an extension of the cmvip, and c, allocate additional local initiative program grant funds to the cmvip to identify vehicles that have counterfeit state inspection certificates.
>> back in may the travis county commissioners court approve law enforcement officers to issue citations for vehicles that have counterfeit, expired or fictitious emission certificates on their vehicle. A missing certificate is an important program for travis county because it's only a safety issue, it is also a health issue. Epa estimates that 10 percent of the vehicles that are driven on the road emit 90% of all the emissions. Travis county is close to being designated as non-attainment for ozone. And we have a dirty polluting car driven on the road that emits more nitrogen oxides than one that is properly maintained. Law enforcement officers use a database which they plug in the license plate number of a vehicle and within a matter of seconds information appears showing whether or not that vehicle has a valid emissions certificate. Between june and august the 6th of this year, two precincts, 2 and 3, have reported that they've issued 654 citations --
>> how many?
>> 654 citations. And have issued 469 warnings. For this program. The sheriff's office between july 7th and july 31st has issued 359 citations. Travis county law enforcement officers, even though this program has been operating a short time, has undercovered the second most counterfeited certificate in the state of texas, according to the records. And this program has been a success and we're asking to continue the program through august 31st, 2011, and to increase the funding by a little over $500,000. Using the local initiatives projects grant. This is a grant that has been awarded to travis county from tceq for areas that have an emissions program to improve air quality in that area. And there will be a positive impact on the budget for travis county. It requires the grant of 75% to 25% match. Travis county's 25% match is an in kind machine. We're using officer's fringe benefits for the match.
>> can you tell me a couple of things. Thank you tell me exactly what is the penalty as far as fines are concerned for someone operating a vehicle and haven't gone through the emissions standards for certification? Is there a fine assessed or tickets or warranted? What is the fine? What is the deal on that? Can someone give me an answer to that?
>> yes. The fine for having an expired, counterfeit or fictitious emissions inspections certificate is $169. However, if the vehicle -- they get the vehicle inspected within 60 days, then the fine is dropped to only $20.
>> tell me again the amount? It's dropped to $20 from what?
>> from 169. And also whenever an individual does receive a citation or a warning, the officers do provide information about the drive a clean machine program, which is another aspect of this program where we help to pay people's vehicles to get them up to par so that they can pass the emissions. We pay for emissions related repairs for vehicles.
>> but what happens to the vehicle at that time? In other words, here's a vehicle that's operating on the road. We're very concerned about the emissions, and especially if those vehicles haven't gone through the inspection process as far as ensuring that they are emitting what they're supposed to be emitting. That won't interfere with our air quality. I guess my question is, is that vehicle allowed to continue to operate under these conditions or is the vehicle set aside until those particular repairs are made to bring them into compliance? So how does it work? Do we let them continue to drive the vehicle? How does that work?
>> at this time if the vehicle appears to be safe to be driven, unless it's very obvious that there is major problem with the vehicle, the person is allowed to continue to drive the vehicle. In the dallas area and in williamson county they do tow the vehicle.
>> they tow them in those counties?
>> yes. We decided that would not be imposed -- would impose an additional financial hardship on the individual at this time to begin a towing program. So get your vehicle out of an impoundment lot your vehicle must be up to date on its registration, you have to show insurance and you also have to -- it cost as minimum of $200 even if your vehicle has only been there for one hour. And an additional amount for everyday that the vehicle is there in the impoundment lot.
>> let's make the towing company lots rich. We don't like that program.
>> we didn't want to cause an additional financial hardships on the residents of travis county.
>> that's even better. So how do we know whether you've gotten your car repaired or not?
>> well, we don't know at this time.
>> no, with regard to dropping it to $20. They have a specific time period to come back to a jp court --
>> 60 days.
>> 60 days to come back to jp court or municipal court and show that they have a valid inspection sticker, right?
>> yes. They should be able to require to produce with the vir, the vehicle emissions report. It's a page after document that shows whether or not the vehicle has passed or failed. However, we have noticed that in the dallas area they're faking the vehicle emission reports.
>> faking it?
>> yes, sir. They are able to produce them with a printer that looks very like -- almost exactly like a valid vehicle emissions report, but we notice that the addresses on some of them are in the middle of the lake or one time they've even actually been the courthouse. You have to have the address of the facility that inspected the vehicle. We can't give access to all of the courts -- we can give access to all of the courts to make sure the vehicle has a valid inspection, just by running the license number through the database.
>> notice she said in the dallas area.
>> i did notice that.
>> commissioner eckhardt?
>> we have discuss this had before, but my real interest in the program is finding the perpetrators of these invalid inspection stickers and certifications, my concern -- i'm gratified that we dropped the fine down to $20 in a valid inspection sticker has gotten within 60 days. I think that the root cause of this is the perpetrators of the forgeries. So to what extent do these funds go to detective work to discover the perpetrators of the forgery?
>> i'll speak to that. Phyllis claire, major, travis county sheriff's office, law enforcement bureau. It's our intent in the law enforcement bury refor the sheriff's office that our funds that we get back from the grant will go towards overtime for our detectives to do these investigations. But i'm also pretty sure that d.p.s. Does investigations also based on the information put into the computer system that she's referring to. So there's some investigation on that end, but it's my intend that our environmental officer will be able to use these funds to pay his overtime because he certainly has enough to do even without this.
>> our operations in the county, its 169-dollar fine, do we know the splitout between the locality and the state is on that fine?
>> do they take a percentage?
>> i believe it's a flat amount. I'm not sure. I can find out that information for you.
>> that would be good to know.
>> in terms of procedures of this, are we pursuing this along with regular traffic stops or are we doing drag nets in parking lots?
>> the sheriff autos office is pursuing this in terms of an additional thing they'll do when they encounter a vehicle. We're not out doing this as a full f.t.e. That's all they do. My officers encounter a vehicle not just on traffic stops, but in other situations too. And the ones that have been trained have been told that any time they encounter a vehicle, they are welcome to apply this. Wirks we have for a two week period 92 hours, which is the equivalent of one f.t.e. For two weeks. But that's spread out with speakers doing their regular job and just using this tool at this time.
>> do we have any information with regard to the detective work necessary to identify the perpetrators, whether quality or quantity is most important to them with regard to information on these fake inspection stickers? My point being is that if a drag net type operation isn't particularly useful to the detective work necessary to identify the perpetrator, a wider -- a wider geographic coverage -- i would just like to know that because i would at a time hait to think that we are drag netting and thereby gaining fines and fees and work load in jp's when the detective work really is needing a more geographic spread. Do we have any information on that?
>> no. I do know what's happening right now is that the information regarding -- if an officer does find out where the certificate came from, they are turning this information over to d.p.s.
>> okay. Thanks.
>> move that we approve b by granting the request to extend this program through august 31st of 2011.
>> i second that, judge. And i would like to ask this question also. Where are we -- it might have gone by already. Where are we in the eep allowing us -- in the e.p.a. Allowing us to have the latest information on our emissions to ensure that the county is in compliance with the e.p.a.? I don't know what part per billion they're going to look at. I know we discussed 70, then we looked at 60 parts per billion dlars emissions as far as the air quality is concerned. My question to you is has anything been finalized with the e.p.a. As far as the emissions standards? Can someone tell me that?
>> commissioner, john white from tnr. We don't really know what e.p.a. Is going to do at this point. They announced this past week that they are delaying their determination with respect to the ozone rule. Until on or about the end of october, which i take to mean november 3rd. So we don't really know where they'll go with that. These rumors are rampant. They may leave the standard at 75, they may move to 70 or lower. K%l bets are off in terms of guessing what it might be. In terms of our own compliance, we are teetering on the brink if it stays at 75, depending on day-to-day. We kind of blew through the ozone standard in a couple of monitoring locations this past weekend, so it's weather conditions and we're right on the edge right now. If this were the end of the so zone season today we would skate bye-bye the skin of our teeth at the standard -- proposed standard of 75 parts per billion.
>> and that's a close call there. Especially if you're skating by your teeth. My point, and this is why i'm really concerned about vehicles being allowed to continue to drive, and we're on the borderline on on -- you heard john white's report there as far as ozone.
>> commissioner, with respect to allowing vehicles to continue to drive, we thought about this very carefully. One possibility if would have been that we could move very vigorously to impound vehicles and the like. As adele said we do not want to impose an extra financial purd on people who cannot afford to have this done.
>> i understand it may be affordability k we afford not to meet the standards that e.p.a. Has gone to apply? I don't know. It's a balancing act here.
>> i don't think that this activity in and of itself would get us through. Certainly the inspection and maintenance program is by far the biggest bang for the buck. And that is why the texas legislature has put extra incentives towards doing this kind of a program. So what we wanted to understand clearly was just how pervasive the problem was in travis county. You know, we would get all kinds of numbers from houston and dallas area implying that there were hundreds of thousands of vehicles potentially in violation. We didn't necessarily have any good reason to believe that was the case here. But what we wanted to do is get a sense of how pervasive the problem was. So we thought we'll start off with the citations, with the investigations, and if it proves over a period of time that more stringent activity, more stringent enforcement is necessary, we do always have the option of moving towards something more vigorous, including impoundment of vehicles. But i really would not want at this point to be out there impounding vehicles of people who simply can't afford to get their vehicles fixed.
>> the other point was that the perpetrating.
>> as commissioner eckhardt brought up, and i think major claire had also mentioned, looking at the perpetrator to also be a cutoff valve to what -- where these violations are occurring. So i'm really concerned about that to make sure that those persons that are fraudulently producing these stickers are dealt with. And that may be the crux of the whole matter. But again, i guess we haven't got there yet.
>> we haven't gotten to that point yet.
>> but we -- that need to be looked at.
>> that's exactly it because that certificate number that she's referring to is duplicated, i think, by a number of different i will say organizations, whether they be businesses or people in a group that are doing them.
>> all right.
>> the motion is to extend the deadline through august 31st, 2011. All in favor?
>> i'm going to be -- i'm voting in favor of this, but i will want to see some performance measure throughout 2011 to show that we're not criminalizing the victims of this crime and that we are actually identifying the perpetrators of this crime.
>> it passes on a vote of seven to zero. The way i understand c is -- it passes by unanimous vote. The way i understand c is you are requesting an additional $2,210 from l.i.p. Grant funds. We have those funds from the state.
>> we have been guaranteed those funds from the state. Once this is approved and signed by the county judge, we issue a notice -- a request for the funds and tceq sends those to us.
>> i believe the county judge will work with us on this. So if we don't -- if we don't get the fund, though, then although we've approved this c, we don't do it because the money is not available.
>> yes.
>> the local match is through the personnel that will do this for us. Constables and sheriff's office.
>> correct. And we did get off to a late start, we didn't start in may because we had to wait for tceq to send us the funding. We had some funds left over to tide us over until we do receive all the funding from tceq as requested.
>> and so if we approve this and for some reason the state doesn't deliver the money, this item will be placed back on our agenda for further consideration.
>> correct.
>> that's why i move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion on the motion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Question. Do we have the authority locally -- two questions. One is do we have the authority locally to tell residents to whom we issue citations, call this number if you get this problem fixed within 60 days? Or did we do that already?
>> isn't that on the handout?
>> he's referring to -- do you mean how to get their vehicle repaired?
>> no. You issue john doe a citation and we say, hey, this will cost you $169. But if you get your problem fixed, right, and pass inspection and maintenance program, within the next 60 days, instead of 169, your fine becomes 20.
>> i'm not sure if that information is printed on the back of the citation or not.
>> do we have the authority in travis county to start telling recipients of this citation that?
>> the judge's decision?
>> yes.
>> so we are careful --
>> i think i may need to get the answer for you.
>> it seems to me if our primary goal is to get the polluting automobile repaired so it will not thereafter pollute, why we wouldn't start doing that if we can. Let's just think about that. Now, how do we determine who receives a citation and who receives a warning?
>> our sop states that the officers have discretion in that area and if they are convinced in their discussion with the driver that the driver was aware of the inspection sticker being fictitious, then they would get a citation. But in the situation where a driver says this is my son's car and it's not registered to the driver, we wouldn't issue a citation in that situation.
>> so if you seem to have a legitimate reason, ie, you don't know, that in fact the inspection sticker is invalid, you don't have a good reason to believe it's invalid, then we kind of let you off the hook by giving awe warning?
>> correct. But that information is still going to be documented and the sticker will be seized. As evidence.
>> so if we later see you driving the same car without a valid sticker, then we know, hey, you've got you a citation coming.
>> because the sticker is scriepped, correct?
>> the sticker is scraped and that becomes evidence and that's how we compile the database in the computer to start working those investigations to get to commissioner davis' point about the real perpetrator here because there's a possibility -- i could take my car to a shop not knowing that i'm not going to meet standards, and the person that runs the shop takes some pity on me and goes ahead and just fictitiously enters the data that shows my truck to have passed everything. And i would drive off out of there and wouldn't even know it.
>> law enforcement people have all the fun, don't you?
>> and judge biscoe, i would like to add we do have a website, cleantravisair.com and people can submit their license number and we can check it to make sure they have a valid emissions certificate?
>> and do the constables have a similar sop with regard to warnings and citations? And what does either the sheriff or the -- my understanding from the sheriff is this wouldn't come up because this would be incident to a stop. Are the constables enforcement incident to stop or sweep?
>> we're focusing totally on counterfeit and fictitious.
>> and incident to a traffic stop.
>> it's a traffic stop. And basically what we're seeing would trigger a warning ticket and just scraping it. The situation that we're seeing a lot of, i just bought this car, and they had -- the person has to have -- has to have some knowledge that their sticker is invalid or counterfeit or fictitious. If they have no knowledge, they're getting a warning ticket. But we are scraping it and to answer part of commissioner davis' concerns, it's not why is the driver around with no inspection sticker at all because you're going to get stopped again.
>> so are these written sop's with regard to providing a warning rather than a citation under those circumstances?
>> it is in our office.
>> okay. But of course, you can only speak for your office.
>> yes.
>> all right. Thank you.
>> by the way, approval of c that we did a minute ago. We did take that vote. Authorization for the county judge to sign on behalf of the commissioners court to get the grant processed. Okay. Now, for the vehicle users committee, i think our discussion will take more than 10 minutes. So let's indicate our intention to call that item up at about 2:00 after the space item. All right?
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, August 31, 2010, 2010 2:30 PM
