A vehicle owner who gets a written nonpayment notice must pay the toll and administrative fee by the time stated in the notice or face an offense; certain defenses can avoid prosecution.
Sec. 372.105. NONPAYMENT BY VEHICLES NOT REGISTERED IN THIS STATE. (a) A toll project entity may, in lieu of mailing a written notice of nonpayment, serve with a written notice of nonpayment in person an owner of a vehicle that is not registered in this state, including the owner of a vehicle registered in another state of the United States, the United Mexican States, a state of the United Mexican States, or another country or territory. A notice of nonpayment may also be served by an employee of a governmental entity operating an international bridge at the time a vehicle with a record of nonpayment seeks to enter or leave this state. (b) Each written notice of nonpayment issued under Subsection (a) shall include a warning that the failure to pay the amounts in the notice may result in the toll project entity's exercise of the habitual violator remedies under this subchapter. (c) An owner who is served a written notice of nonpayment under Subsection (a) and fails to pay the proper toll and administrative fee within the time specified in the notice commits an offense. Each failure to pay a toll or administrative fee under this subsection is a separate offense. (d) An offense under Subsection (c) is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $250. The court in which an owner is convicted of an offense under this section may also collect the proper toll and administrative fee and forward the toll and fee to the toll project entity. (e) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (c) that the owner of the vehicle is a lessor of the vehicle and not later than the 30th day after the date the notice of nonpayment is served under Subsection (a) provides to the toll project entity proof that meets applicable toll project entity law establishing that the vehicle was leased to another person at the time of the nonpayment. (f) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (c) that the vehicle in question was stolen before the failure to pay the proper toll occurred and was not recovered by the time of the failure to pay, but only if the theft was reported to the appropriate law enforcement authority before the earlier of: (1) the occurrence of the failure to pay; or (2) eight hours after the discovery of the theft. Added by Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 491 (S.B. 1792), Sec. 1, eff. June 14, 2013.