By:  Saunders                                          H.B. No. 931
       73R2450 RWS-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to certain fees charged by district clerks.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 51.317(b), Government Code, is amended to
    1-5  read as follows:
    1-6        (b)  The fees are:
    1-7              (1)  for filing a suit, including an appeal from an
    1-8  inferior court.................................................$45
    1-9              (2)  for filing a cross-action, intervention, contempt
   1-10  action, or motion for new trial................................$15
   1-11              (3)  for issuing a subpoena, including one copy, when
   1-12  requested at the time a suit or action is filed..........$ 8 <$ 4>
   1-13              (4)  for issuing a citation or other writ or process
   1-14  not otherwise provided for, including one copy, when requested at
   1-15  the time a suit or action is filed.............................$ 8
   1-16              (5)  for issuing an additional copy of a process not
   1-17  otherwise provided for, when requested at the time a suit or action
   1-18  is filed......................................................$ 4.
   1-19        SECTION 2.  Section 51.318(b), Government Code, is amended to
   1-20  read as follows:
   1-21        (b)  The fees are:
   1-22              (1)  for issuing a subpoena not provided for in Section
   1-23  51.317, including one copy.................................$8 <$4>
   1-24              (2)  for issuing a citation, commission for deposition,
    2-1  writ of execution, order of sale, writ of execution and order of
    2-2  sale, writ of injunction, writ of garnishment, writ of attachment,
    2-3  or writ of sequestration not provided for in Section 51.317, or any
    2-4  other writ or process not otherwise provided for, including one
    2-5  copy if required by law.........................................$8
    2-6              (3)  for an additional copy of a writ or process not
    2-7  otherwise provided for..........................................$4
    2-8              (4)  for searching files or records to locate a cause
    2-9  when the docket number is not provided..........................$5
   2-10              (5)  for searching files or records to ascertain the
   2-11  existence of an instrument or record in the district
   2-12  clerk's office..................................................$5
   2-13              (6)  for certifying a fact contained in a record in the
   2-14  district clerk's office.........................................$2
   2-15              (7)  for issuing a deposition, for each
   2-16  100 words..................................................20 cents
   2-17              (8)  for issuing interrogatories with certificate and
   2-18  seal, for each page or part of a page...........................$1
   2-19              (9)  for abstracting a judgment................$8 <$4>
   2-20              (10)  for approving a bond..........................$4
   2-21              (11)  for a certified copy of a record, judgment,
   2-22  order, pleading, or paper on file or of record in the district
   2-23  clerk's office, including certificate and seal, for each page or
   2-24  part of a page.................................................$1.
   2-25        SECTION 3.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
   2-26  fees that become payable on or after the effective date of this
   2-27  Act.  A fee that became payable before the effective date of this
    3-1  Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the fee became
    3-2  payable, and that law remains in effect for that purpose.
    3-3        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    3-4        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-5  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-6  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-7  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-8  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.