The following words and terms, when used in this chapter will have the following meanings, unless the context clearly shows otherwise:

1. (1) Advisory board--The Towing and Storage Advisory Board.
2. (2) Applicant--The person or entity submitting an application for a permit or license issued by the department.
3. (3) Certificate of insurance--A certificate prescribed by and filed with the department in which an insurance carrier or surety company, approved in this state, warrants that a towing company for whom the certificate is filed has the minimum coverage as required by §86.400.
4. (4) Commission--The Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation.
5. (5) Consent tow--Any tow of a motor vehicle initiated by the owner or operator of the vehicle or by a person who has possession, custody, or control of the vehicle. The term does not include a tow of a motor vehicle initiated by a peace officer investigating a traffic accident or a traffic incident that involves the vehicle.
6. (6) Conspicuous--Written in a size, color, and contrast so as to be readily noticed and understood.
7. (7) Contested case--A proceeding, including a licensing proceeding, in which the legal rights, duties, or privileges of a party are to be determined by a state agency after an opportunity for adjudicative hearing.
8. (8) Department--The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
9. (9) Driver's License--Has the meaning assigned by §521.001, Transportation Code.
10. (10) License holder or Licensee--The person to which the department issued a license.
11. (11) Nonconsent tow--Any tow of a motor vehicle that is not a consent tow.

12. (12) Parking facility--Public or private property used, wholly or partly, for restricted or paid vehicle parking. The term includes:

    1. (A) a restricted space on a portion of an otherwise unrestricted parking facility; and

    2. (B) a commercial parking lot, a parking garage, and a parking area serving or adjacent to a business, church, school, home, apartment complex, property governed by a property owners' association, or government-owned property leased to a private person, including:

       1. (i) a portion of the right-of-way of a public roadway that is leased by a governmental entity to the parking facility owner; and
       2. (ii) the area between the facility's property line abutting a county or municipal public roadway and the center line of the roadway's drainage way or the curb of the roadway, whichever is farther from the facility's property line.

13. (13) Parking facility owner--

    1. (A) an owner or operator of a parking facility, including a lessee, employee, or agent of an owner or operator;
    2. (B) a property owners' association having control under a dedicatory instrument, as that term is defined in §202.001, Property Code, over assigned or unassigned parking areas; or
    3. (C) a property owner having an exclusive right under a dedicatory instrument, as that term is defined in §202.001, Property Code, to use a parking space.
14. (14) Permit holder--The person to which the department issued a permit.
15. (15) Property owners' association--Has the meaning assigned by §202.001, Property Code.
16. (16) Public roadway--A public street, alley, road, right-of-way, or other public way, including paved and unpaved portions of the right-of-way.

17. (17) Tow truck--A motor vehicle, including a wrecker, equipped with a mechanical device used to tow, winch, or otherwise move another motor vehicle. The following motor vehicles are not considered tow trucks:

    1. (A) a motor vehicle owned and used exclusively by a governmental entity, including a public school district;

    2. (B) a motor vehicle towing:

       1. (i) a race car;
       2. (ii) a motor vehicle for exhibition; or
       3. (iii) an antique motor vehicle;
    3. (C) a recreational vehicle towing another vehicle;
    4. (D) a motor vehicle used in combination with a tow bar, tow dolly, or other mechanical device if the vehicle is not operated in the furtherance of a commercial enterprise; or
    5. (E) a motor vehicle that is controlled or operated by a farmer or rancher and that is used for towing a farm vehicle.
18. (18) Towing company--An individual, association, corporation, or other legal entity that controls, operates, or directs the operation of one or more tow trucks over a public roadway in this state but does not include a political subdivision of the state.
19. (19) Towing operator--The person to which the department issued a towing operator license.
20. (20) Unauthorized vehicle--A vehicle parked, stored, or located on a parking facility without the consent of the parking facility owner.
21. (21) Vehicle--A device in, on, or by which a person or property may be transported on a public roadway. The term includes an operable or inoperable automobile, truck, motorcycle, recreational vehicle, or trailer but does not include a device moved by human power or used exclusively on a stationary rail or track.

22. (22) Vehicle owner--A person:

    1. (A) named as the purchaser or transferee in the certificate of title issued for the vehicle under Chapter 501, Transportation Code;
    2. (B) in whose name the vehicle is registered under Chapter 502, Transportation Code, or a member of the person's immediate family;
    3. (C) who holds the vehicle through a lease agreement;
    4. (D) who is an unrecorded lienholder entitled to possess the vehicle under the terms of a chattel mortgage; or
    5. (E) who is a lienholder holding an affidavit of repossession and entitled to repossess the vehicle.
23. (23) Vehicle storage facility--A vehicle storage facility, as defined by Texas Occupations Code, §2303.002 that is operated by a person who holds a license issued under Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 2303 to operate the facility.

Source Note:The provisions of this §86.10 adopted to be effective April 15, 2008, 33 TexReg 2940.