It’s official: Texas would no longer issue temporary paper license plates. Rep. Craig Goldman’s HB718 was enacted into law Monday afternoon by Governor Greg Abbott.
Paper labels have been historically held responsible for widespread fraud in the state. The issue was initially brought to light by CBS News Texas in 2017.
Critics claim that it’s too simple to reproduce and print a false plate. Doug Dunbar got a personal look at the issue of “ghost cars” via the viewpoint of Grand Prairie cops early this year. When 1 of his cops died while pursuing a vehicle with a fraudulent license plate, Chief Daniel Scesney picked up the cause and decided to do away with paper tags permanently.
We subsequently sat next to Chief Scesney once again as he discussed his months-long campaign to alter how the state distributes license plates, which included numerous travels to Austin and discussions with legislators.
“In soul, everybody was on board,” Scesney stated. “I believe that even the car dealers believe that this is an issue.”