(Texas Scorecard) – In May, GOP delegates approved eight legislative priorities for the upcoming legislative session.
The final priority from the Texas GOP states: Resisting unconstitutional federal acts and mandates that restrict transportation, including mandatory kill switches in vehicles, road diets, and restrictions on the owner’s right to repair vehicles and equipment. Ensuring that Texans have medical freedom and can give or withhold consent for any vaccine or medical treatment without coercion, are not discriminated against based on vaccine status, and are not faced with any vaccine or medical mandate by public or private entities.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed his $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation with a provision on kill switches in automobiles to begin in 2026. A kill switch is broadly described as a button, switch, or other mechanism that allows a machine to be shut down immediately.
Sec. 24220 of the law explicitly states: “To ensure the prevention of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities, advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology must be standard equipment in all new passenger motor vehicles.” The legislation then defines the technology as a computer system that can “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle” and can “prevent or limit motor vehicle operation if an impairment is detected.” The legislation does not use the term “kill switch.”
According to the law, new motor vehicles must have a computer system to “monitor” drivers, the system must be able to prevent vehicle operation if it detects impairment and is effective for new vehicles starting in 2026.
Federally, the No Kill Switches in Cars Act, introduced by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) in January 2024 sought to repeal the kill switch provision.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, a Road Diet is “removing travel lanes from a roadway and utilizing the space for other uses and travel modes.” The federal government has been encouraging it more for years with bike lanes but has not forcefully implemented it yet.
The owner’s right to repair vehicles and equipment refers to ensuring all mechanics and repair shops, not just new car dealers, have access to data and other information on vehicles’ onboard computers and other fixable features, and the same goes for other technological equipment. In the past, there have been manufacturers that considered the information on how to fix parts proprietary information that others cannot access.
Multiple states with many political leanings have passed their legislation on this matter. Federally, there have been attempts to get a Right to Repair bill, but it has failed every time.
Within the COVID-19 timeframe, there have been a lot of vaccine mandates from the federal government, seeking to force all Americans into taking an experimental vaccine. The Biden Administration has forced and attempted to force vaccine mandates for: Head Start, National Guard members, private employers with 100 or more employees, private and government employers who have entered into contracts with the federal government, employees of healthcare facilities that receive Medicaid or Medicare funding, and for all federal employees.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed lawsuits against the federal government mandates.
Now, the Texas GOP wants to stop it once and for all.