(a) The dealer, or a federal, state, or local governmental agency, is responsible for the safekeeping of preprinted Internet-down temporary tags and shall store them in a secure place, and promptly destroy any expired tags. The dealer, or a federal, state, or local governmental agency shall report any loss, theft, or destruction of preprinted Internet-down temporary tags to the department within 24 hours of discovering the loss, theft, or destruction.
(b) A dealer, or a federal, state, or local governmental agency, may use a preprinted Internet-down temporary tag up to 12 months after the date the preprinted Internet-down temporary tag is created. A dealer, or a federal, state, or local governmental agency, may create replacement preprinted Internet-down temporary tags up to the maximum allowed, when:
  (1) a dealer, or a federal, state, or local governmental agency, uses one or more preprinted Internet-down temporary tags and then enters the required information in the temporary tag database after access to the temporary tag database is again available; or
  (2) a preprinted Internet-down temporary tag expires.
(c) The number of preprinted Internet-down temporary tags that a dealer, or federal, state, or local governmental agency, may create is equal to the greater of:
  (1) the number of preprinted Internet-down temporary tags previously allotted by the department to the dealer or a federal, state, or local governmental agency;
  (2) 30; or
  (3) 1/52 of the dealer's, or federal, state, or local governmental agency's, total annual sales.
(d) For good cause shown, a dealer, or a federal, state, or local governmental agency, may obtain more than the number of preprinted Internet-down temporary tags described in subsection (c) of this section. The director of the Motor Vehicle Division of the department or that director's delegate may approve, in accordance with this subsection, an additional allotment of preprinted Internet-down temporary tags for a dealer, or a federal, state, or local governmental agency, if the additional allotment is essential for the continuation of the dealer's, or a federal, state, or local governmental agency's, business. The director of the Motor Vehicle Division of the department, or a federal, state, or local governmental agency, or that director's delegate will base the determination of the additional allotment of preprinted Internet-down temporary tags on the dealer's, or a federal, state, or local governmental agency's, past sales, inventory, and any other factors that the director of the Motor Vehicle Division of the department or that director's delegate determines pertinent, such as an emergency. A request for additional preprinted Internet-down temporary tags must specifically state why the additional preprinted Internet-down temporary tags are necessary for the continuation of the applicant's business.
(e) Preprinted Internet-down temporary tags created under subsection (c) of this section apply to the maximum tag limit established in §215.152 of this title (relating to Obtaining Numbers for Issuance of Temporary Tags) when the preprinted tag is entered into the temporary tag database as a sale.

Source Note: The provisions of this §215.158 adopted to be effective February 11, 2010, 35 TexReg 883; amended to be effective October 6, 2013, 38 TexReg 6646; amended to be effective February 13, 2017, 42 TexReg 571; amended to be effective October 21, 2020, 45 TexReg 7441; amended to be effective February 14, 2022, 47 TexReg 954