DAN MORALES

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

## QEVficeof the Plttornep Q3ettersl &Stateof IEexas
March 10, 1995 Honorable Clyde Alexander Chair Committee on Transportation Texas House ofRepresentatives P.O. Box 2910 A&n, Texas 78768.2910 Opiion No. DM-330 Re: Whether a statutorily mandated sign hmished by atowing company to a parking hciiity constitutes “anything of value” in cmtravention of article 67Olg-2, V.T.C.S., and a related question (RQ-696)

Your predecessor asked us to interpret the meaning of the phrase kything of value” as it isused inarticle 6701g-2, sections 8 and 9,V.T.C.S. Article 6701g-2 is generaUy concerned with the towing of unauthorized vehicles from parking tkilities. Section 3(a) ofthe act permits the removal of such vehicles ifthe parking fkility owner has given the vehicle’s owner or operator adequate notice, which may include that “a sign or signs prohibiting unauthorized vehicles have been instahed on the parking faciity for at least 24 consecutive hours and remain installed at the time of towing.” V.T.C.S. art. 67Olg-2, 4 3(a)(l). Section 6 of the act provides the specifications for such a sign, which in&r alia must be weather-resistant, at least 18 inches wide and 24 inches tall, and “$ntain a current telephone number, including the area code, that is answered 24 hours a day to enable the owner or operator of a towed vehicle to locate it.” Id. § 6(b)(7). It is our understanding that generally the telephone number posted is that of the towing company which has arranged with the parking faciity owner to tow unauthorized vehicles from that lot. Sections 8 and 9 of the act prohibit the towing company from giving, and the parking facility owner from~accepting “anything of value, directly or indirectly, &om a towing company in comtection with the removal of a vehicle 6om a parking facility.” Id. § 8. These sections also prohibit parking facilities and towing companies which have such arelation from having a monetary interest in each other. Ordinarily, your predecessor informed us, the signs mandated by the legislation, which cost approximately twenty dollars, are owned by the towing company whose telephone number is on them. Your predecessor therefore asked two questions: first, whether the giving and/or loaning of such signs by the towing company to the parking facility owner constitutes the offer of “anything of value” under the statute; and second,Honorable Clyde Alexander - Page 2 (~~-330)

whether the parking facility owner or the towing company should bear the cost of installmg the signs. The act does not defbte “anything of value.” We are therefore charged to read these words in accordance with their natural, ordinary, and popular meaning. 67 TEX. RJR.3D Stahrres 8 100, at 674 (1989). We think it clear that, though the value of such a sign as that at issue here may be small, it is not nonexistent. The statute would plainly prevent a towing company owner from giving the parking lot owner a twenty-dollar bii, or a twenty dollar loan. There is no legal difference between the bill or loan, and the sign. A sign of this sort has a cash value, and is therefore a thing of value for the purposes of the statute.’ As to your predecessor’s second question, in our view the responsibiity for placing the sign at the lot belongs to the lot’s owner. Sections 3 and 4 ofthe act make this clear. Section 3 permits the parking facility owner to cause unauthorized vehicles to be towed if the proper sign is in place. Section 4 allows the towing company to tow unauthorized vehicles away if, inter alia, “the towing company has received written veritication t?om the parking facility owner that the. owner has. caused signs to be installed.” V.T.C.S. art. 6701%2, 34(a)(l). The law imposes on the lot owner the obligation of providing notice to vehicle owners or operators by signs that meet its specifications.s

tlthasbccnsuggatcdthatthcgiftorloanofsuchasignmaynotk’inconnectionwiththe removalofavehiclefromaparkingfacility.” Wedectinetonadthtsphrasctorefertopsrticalar mmovala.lo norview,itrefers tothewholecontracbe.hwcnthefacilityownerandthetowingcompany andthearrangements

incidentthereto.Toreadthephraseotherwise wouldpermit

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p. 1749HonorableClyde Alexander - Page 3 (DM-330)

SUMMARY A sign of the sort required to be posted at a parking facility by article 6701%2, V.T.C.S. is a thing of value for the purposes of sections 8 and 9 ofthat statute. The responsibility for posting such a sip rests, pursuant to sections 3 and 4 of the statute, on the owner of the parking facility concerned, rather h upon the towing company.

DAN MORALES Attorney General ofTexas JORGE VEGA Fii Assistant Attorney General SARAH J. SHIRLEY Chair, Opiion Committee Prepared by James Tourtelott Assistant Attorney General

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