LT. GOV. URGED TO BACK AUTO BURGLARY BILL

Texas State Rep. Vicki Truitt (Keller) joined forces with police chiefs from Texas’ six largest cities to sign a letter imploring Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to pressure Senate leaders to grant a hearing for Truitt’s House Bill 151 that would enhance the penalty on auto burglary.

HB 151 passed out of the House on March 30, with huge bipartisan support. The bill would reinstate a felony penalty for burglary of a motor vehicle (BMV). Represen-tatives Rafael Anchia (Dallas) and Aaron Pena (Edinburg) joined Truitt and the chiefs in signing the letter to Dewhurst. HB 151 was jointly authored by Truitt, Pena, and Representatives Dan Branch (Dallas), Linda Harper-Brown (Irving) and Roberto Alonzo (Dallas).

“HB 151 has been ignored in the Senate for exactly one month. We are calling on Lt. Governor Dewhurst to use his influence and clout to give this issue the attention it deserves,” Truitt stated. “The members of the House overwhelmingly supported this bill, and the law enforcement officers and prosecutors of Texas, not to mention the thousands of innocent victims of this crime, are mystified as to why the Senate has apparently decided to do nothing. We have only a couple weeks left in this legislative session, and we can’t afford to stand by and wait any longer.”

Although a majority of crimes have been decreasing over the past few years, car burglaries have been constantly and dramatically increasing. Dollar losses statewide from car burglaries have grown 123 percent in the past 10 years, according to the Department of Public Safety’s Uniform Crime Report statistics. Prior to 1995, when car burglaries were still felony offenses in Texas, the frequency of this crime was declining.