Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill on May 18 that will allow Harris County Universal Services to register county vehicles up to every eight years rather than annually. This operational and cost-savings measure will take effect Sept. 1.

HCUS led this bill because the HCUS Business Operations division currently registers 4,800 vehicles per year. This new law will save the county at least 1,700 employee hours and thousands of taxpayer dollars per year.

Jeremy Brown, Sr. Manager of Records & Legislation for the HCUS Records Management Center, spoke in support of the bill before the Transportation Committee of the Texas House on March 30 and House Senate on April 7. Tammie Davidson and Tonya Rose of the HCUS Business Operations division and Jim Smith of the HCUS Fleet Services division helped drive the HCUS initiative by providing the instrumental information that shaped the drafting and advocacy of the bill.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Carol Alvarado and Rep. Mike Schofield and supported by all members of the Harris County Commissioners Court and Harris County Office of Intergovernmental and Global Affairs.