Traffic Safety

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details about the impact of this bill on existing state laws or what happens if a resolution is invalid.

Amending Tennessee Laws on Drag Racing

This bill allows local governments in Tennessee to pass laws that let police seize and impound cars used for drag racing or fleeing after drag racing.

What This Bill Does

• Allows counties and cities to create their own rules about seizing and impounding vehicles involved in drag racing or fleeing from it.
• Requires these local rules to set a minimum time of up to 120 hours before releasing the car, after payment of fees.
• Includes an administrative and judicial process for vehicle owners to contest the seizure and related fines and fees.

Who It Names or Affects

• Local governments in Tennessee that want to pass laws about seizing vehicles used in drag racing.
• People involved in drag racing whose cars may be seized and impounded.

Terms To Know

Impound

To take a vehicle to a designated garage or storage lot by law enforcement.

Owner

A person who legally owns the car, including those registered with it and their agents.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if a local government's resolution or ordinance is found to be invalid.
• It remains unclear how this will affect existing state laws on drag racing penalties.

Official Summary Text

Present law provides that d
rag racing is a Class E felony, and any person who operates a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state, or while on the premises of any shopping center, trailer park, any apartment house complex, or any other premises generally frequented by t
he public at large, or who is a participant therein, for the purpose of drag racing commits the offense of drag racing unless the premises are properly licensed for this purpose.
However, if
the violation
r
esults in the serious
bodily injury of a participant, passenger, bystander or other person,
then
drag racing
is
punished
as
vehicular assault.

Any motor vehicle used to commit the offense of drag racing or to flee after commission of the offense is, upon conviction, subject to seizure and forfeiture.

LOCAL RESOLUTION OR ORDINANCE

This bill adds that
in any county or municipality that has passed a resolution or ordinance authorizing the seizure and impoundment of a motor vehicle observed by law enforcement to have been used to commit the offense of drag racing or to flee after commission of the offens
e, a law enforcement officer may seize and cause such vehicle to be impounded
.

This bill authorizes a
county or municipality
to
pass and implement a resolution or ordinance authorizing the seizure and impoundment of a motor vehicle
as long as
that county or municipality
,
and such resolution or ordinance
,
provide
s
for the following:



A minimum number of hours, not to exceed
120
, for which the vehicle is to be impounded before it can be released to the owner upon payment of all reasonable and customary fees relating to the towing and storage of the motor vehicle
.



An administrative and judicial review process that enables the owner of the vehicle to contest the propriety of the seizure, impoundment, and associated fines and fees.

"OWNER" DEFINED

As used in this bill, an "owner"
means a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle or to whom the vehicle is registered, and includes an agent or authorized representative of a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle or to whom the vehicle is registered
.

Current Bill Text

HOUSE BILL 1459
By Clemmons

SENATE BILL 1647
By Pody
SB1647
009564
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 6;
Title 7; Title 16; Title 40 and Title 55, Chapter 10,
Part 5, relative to drag racing.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-10-502, is amended by adding
the following as a new subsection (d):
(1) In addition to the seizure and forfeiture provisions under subsection (c), in
any county or municipality that has passed a resolution or ordinance authorizing the
seizure and impoundment of a motor vehicle observed by law enforcement to have been
used to commit the offense of drag racing or to flee after commission of the offense of
drag racing, a law enforcement officer may seize and cause such vehicle to be
impounded in accordance with this subsection (d).
(2) A county or municipality may pass and implement a resolution or ordinance
authorizing the seizure and impoundment of a motor vehicle under this subsection (d);
provided, that the county or municipality and such resolution or ordinance must provide
for the following:
(A) A minimum number of hours, not to exceed one hundred twenty
(120), for which the vehicle is to be impounded before it can be released to the
owner upon payment of all reasonable and customary fees relating to the towing
and storage of the motor vehicle; and
(B) An administrative and judicial review process that enables the owner
of the vehicle to contest the propriety of the seizure, impoundment, and
associated fines and fees.

- 2 - 009564

(3) For purposes of this subsection (d):
(A) "Impound" means removing a vehicle to a garage or storage lot
designated or maintained by a law enforcement agency; and
(B) "Owner" means a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle or to
whom the vehicle is registered, and includes an agent or authorized
representative of such person.
SECTION 2. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance
is held invalid, then the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the act that
can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to that end, the provisions of
this act are severable.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.