By:  Craddick                                          H.B. No. 736
       73R3883 GWK-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the payment of interest on unpaid fines and costs
    1-3  assessed by a justice or municipal court.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article 45.50, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 45.50.  The judgment.  (a)  The judgment and sentence,
    1-8  in case of conviction in a criminal action before a justice of the
    1-9  peace or municipal judge, shall be that the defendant pay the
   1-10  amount of the fine and costs to the state.
   1-11        (b)  The justice or municipal judge may direct the defendant:
   1-12              (1)  to pay the entire fine and costs when sentence is
   1-13  pronounced; <or>
   1-14              (2)  to pay the entire fine and costs at some later
   1-15  date; or
   1-16              (3)  to pay a specified portion of the fine and costs
   1-17  at designated intervals.
   1-18        (c)  A justice or municipal judge who permits a defendant to
   1-19  delay payment of fines and costs under Subsection (b)(2) or (b)(3)
   1-20  of this article may require the defendant to pay judgment interest
   1-21  on the amount of unpaid fines and costs, to accrue at the rate of
   1-22  one percent per month.  A justice or municipal judge collecting
   1-23  interest under this subsection shall deposit the interest in the
   1-24  county or municipal treasury, as appropriate.
    2-1        SECTION 2.  The title of Chapter 45, Code of Criminal
    2-2  Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
    2-3              CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE.  JUSTICE AND MUNICIPAL
    2-4                         <CORPORATION> COURTS
    2-5        SECTION 3.  The change in law made by Section 1 of this Act
    2-6  to Article 45.50, Code of Criminal Procedure, applies only to
    2-7  interest on fines and costs imposed by a justice or municipal judge
    2-8  on conviction of an offense committed on or after the effective
    2-9  date of this Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is
   2-10  committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of
   2-11  the offense occurs before that date.
   2-12        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-13        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-14  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-15  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-16  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-17  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.