Here’s when Texas will get rid of paper tags

It's been almost two years since NBC 5 Investigates began investigating the widespread fraud involving Texas paper license plates. And it will be two more years before those tags are gone from Texas streets, now that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a law that will replace paper tags with metal license plates.

“I'm so glad that he signed it. I think Texas is safer the minute he did,” said Grand Prairie Police Chief Daniel Scesney.

Scesney has spent day after day at the state capitol pushing for change, fulfilling a promise he made to the family of Officer Brandon Tsai, who died in a crash while trying to stop a car with a fraudulent paper tag.

“It's sad that it took so much to get us where we are today, but it is a very, very big challenge to make this change,” said Scesney.

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Brandon Tsai

A challenge so big, according to two lawmakers who sponsored the legislation, they had to agree to a compromise to delay the implementation of the law until 2025.

Representative Craig Goldman (R-Fort Worth), who authored the bill insists he’s not frustrated by that delay, because it will take time to make the transition to a new plate system work for auto dealers, customers and the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

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“Not frustrating at all,” Goldman said on an interview with NBC 5 Investigates.

“You're talking about a piece of legislation when filed last November, I didn't, I mean I'll be honest, I didn't think it would pass. Because big items like this don't pass in one session,” Goldman said.

When you leave the lot, you will have metal plates on your car that are yours.
Texas Rep. Craig Goldman (R-Fort Worth)

Senator Royce West (D-Dallas), who sponsored the bill in the senate, says it will take the TxDMV months to write the new administrative rules for the metal tag distribution process that will replace paper.

“You can’t just turn on the light. I mean, yes, the bill is now law, but it's going to take some time in order to implement it,” West said.

West told NBC 5 the bill was able to overcome pushback from some in the auto industry largely because of the overwhelming support from law enforcement officials like Scesney, who showed up to demand change.

“Every time we had a meeting, the chief of police was at those meetings. He was there when we were negotiating to make certain that law enforcement's perspective was well known,” said West.

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“I didn't know the how big a problem this was truly until your reporting, and then talking with law enforcement across the state, what a major, major issue it is,” said Goldman.

Goldman says he’s confident metal plates will help curb counterfeiting and illegal online sales that have plagued the paper tag system.

And, he hopes the system will be better for consumers too.

“When you leave the lot, you will have metal plates on your car that are yours,” said Goldman.

Starting in July of 2025, when you buy a car, the dealer will have metal plates to put on your car. You won’t have to leave with a paper tag and then return to the dealership or visit a county tax officer later to get your permanent plate.

Under existing Texas law, dealers can also transfer a driver’s current plate to a new car, but Goldman said many dealers don’t advertise that because it’s often easier for them to issue a paper plate instead.

Meanwhile, with paper tags still at least 24 months from being phased out, law enforcement officials know they will face more months of paper tag problems.

As NBC 5 Investigates has reported, crooks have sold fraudulent paper tags in massive numbers. And, our reporting has documented cases across the state where police say human smugglers, drug runners and violent crime suspects use fraudulent paper tags to hide because those tags can make it harder for law enforcement to identify a driver when they flee.

“We aren't going to stop, so we go out as you know, conducting operations, we’re finding a fictitious paper plate about one every six minutes. So, we're going to keep taking them off the street for the next two years and we find somebody that's making them. We're going to put them in jail,” said Chief Scesney.

New records obtained by NBC 5 Investigates show the TxDMV is making progress implementing new security measures that may become even more important when the state begins providing car dealers with stacks of metal plates to issue to customers.

Our reporting showed some small dealers caught illegally selling fraudulent paper tags, were opened by people using stolen identities when they applied for state car dealer licenses, making it difficult for law enforcement to find the people behind those dealerships. After NBC 5 Investigates highlighted the problems, the TxDMV instituted stronger background checks for dealer license applicants.

Since then, stats obtained by NBC 5 show the TxDMV has fingerprinted more than 10,000 people connected to more than 7,500 dealer license applications.