The Texas House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill Tuesday that would eliminate temporary paper license plates, overcoming an early legislative hurdle in an effort to curtail widespread issues with fraudulent tags.
Temporary paper tags are issued to vehicle buyers during the title and registration process. Fake paper tags have long been a headache for Texas law enforcement officials, who say the plates, which are made with false names, VIN numbers and addresses, can be difficult for police to trace and are sometimes used on vehicles associated with crimes.
House Bill 718, authored by Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, would get rid of paper tags within the next few years.