Tex. Transp. Code § 601.191

OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE IN VIOLATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE LIABILITY INSURANCE REQUIREMENT; OFFENSE

Known as the Texas Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act

The act spans §§ 601–601 (104 sections).

Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case CONTRARAS v. State (2010)

Most recently applied in State v. Randall Lee Binkley (February 2018)

Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) A person commits an offense if the person operates a motor vehicle in violation of Section 601.051.

(b) Except as provided by Subsections (c) and (d), an offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $175 or more than $350.

(c) If a person has been previously convicted of an offense under this section, an offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $350 or more than $1,000.

(d) If the court determines that a person who has not been previously convicted of an offense under this section is economically unable to pay the fine, the court may reduce the fine to less than $175.

(e) A citation issued for an offense under this section must include an affirmative indication that the peace officer was unable at the time of the alleged offense to verify financial responsibility for the vehicle through the verification program established under Subchapter N.

Official source: Texas Constitution and Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Texas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.