By:  Moffat                                            H.B. No. 851
       73R1715 CAG-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the county law library fee in certain counties.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 323.023(a), Local Government Code, is
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (a)  A sum set by the commissioners court <not to exceed $20>
    1-7  shall be taxed, collected, and paid as other costs in each civil
    1-8  case filed in a county or district court, except suits for
    1-9  delinquent taxes.  The county is not liable for the costs.  The sum
   1-10  set by the commissioners court may not exceed $20 in a county with
   1-11  a population of 250,000 or more and may not exceed $30 in a county
   1-12  with a population of less than 250,000.
   1-13        SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act relating to
   1-14  the maximum amount of the fee that may be set for the county law
   1-15  library fund under Section 323.023(a), Local Government Code,
   1-16  applies only to a civil case filed on or after September 1, 1993.
   1-17  A civil case filed before that date is governed by the law as it
   1-18  existed when the case is filed, and the prior law is continued in
   1-19  effect for that purpose.
   1-20        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   1-21        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-22  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-23  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   1-24  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.