The Texas Transportation code has always stated that license plates must be on the "front" of the vehicle, but Texas' highest appeals court has established a case law that now requires the front license plate to be mounted to the absolute front-most portion of the exterior of the vehicle.

That means the police now have legal probable cause to stop your vehicle if the plate is inside the windshield, sunken back into the grille, etc...

The law in questions is Texas Transportation code 502.404 -

Sec. 502.404. OPERATION OF VEHICLE WITHOUT LICENSE PLATE OR REGISTRATION INSIGNIA. (a) A person commits an offense if the person operates on a public highway during a registration period a passenger car or commercial motor vehicle that does not display two license plates, at the front and rear of the vehicle...

The case law that establishes the new rule was decided today (Wednesday 9/15/2010) and there is no "grace period", so be aware and be warned.



Related story:

HOUSTON (AP) ―

Texas drivers must display license plates on the front bumpers of their vehicles, the state's top criminal court ruled Wednesday while upholding the conviction of a man sent to prison for 60 years on a drug charge.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in a split decision Wednesday said it's not good enough to just have a plate displayed somewhere else toward the front of the car or truck, like inside the front windshield.

The case involves a man pulled over in Lubbock four years ago because his plate was wedged between the dashboard and the windshield. An officer subsequently found Tawin Spence had about a half-pound of cocaine stuffed in his pants.

Spence appealed, saying his plate clearly was visible, that he shouldn't have been stopped and that the drug evidence used to convict him of possession with intent to deliver cocaine was obtained improperly.

The ruling resolves conflicting opinions from lower state courts.

An appeals court in Austin held the Texas Transportation Code didn't require a plate on the front bumper.

An Amarillo appeals court looked at the code and said the plate must be displayed "where the car begins ... the foremost area of the car."

The Court of Criminal Appeals, agreeing with the Amarillo court, took that to most commonly mean the front bumper.

"'Front' means the foremost part or beginning of a vehicle, not in the front half, or in the front portion," Judge Cathy Cochran said in her majority opinion. "This meaning of 'front' as a location is not ambiguous and does not lead to an absurd result.

"While the Transportation Code does not explicitly define 'front,' common usage and definitions of the word provide ample support for this construction."

Two of the court's nine judges disagreed. Judge Lawrence Meyers, joined by Judge Barbara Hervey, said he'd "construe front and rear to mean any surface facing that direction."

"Using the majority's logic, the rear of the vehicle would be the back bumper," Meyers wrote. "But as we all know, 90 percent of all vehicles do not display the license plate on the back bumper, they are usually on the tailgate or trunk."

Referring to the Transportation Code, Meyers wrote: "The only thing about this statute that is clear is that it is not well written."

Spence, 29, had a previous drug conviction and was on parole less than four months when he was busted Sept. 23, 2006, outside what police said was a known drug house in Lubbock.

His car, a Chevrolet Impala, was described in court documents as having blue sparkle paint, white racing stripes and large wheels. The spot on the bumper where a license plate normally would go instead had a decorative silver chrome plate.

Spence testified at his trial the Texas license plate was "all the way up in the front of the front windshield" and visible from the street.

The officer who made the stop testified that even before he could explain the reason for the stop, Spence said he'd been given a ticket earlier for the same license plate violation.

Spence also had no driver's license, prompting the officer to frisk him and discover the drugs and about $1,400 in cash.

Prison records show Spence got 10 years in prison for cocaine possession in 2001 and was paroled five years later. Conviction on the cocaine charge stemming from the license plate stop in 2006 got him 60 years. He's at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Hughes Unit in Gatesville and becomes eligible for parole consideration in 2013