By: Gallego H.B. No. 1507
73R2596 NSC-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the imposition of a cost of court on criminal
1-3 convictions, the creation of a fund for the payment of
1-4 extraordinary costs of prosecution in certain counties, and the tax
1-5 rate in certain counties to pay for those costs.
1-6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-7 SECTION 1. Chapter 102, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-8 amended by adding Subchapter E to read as follows:
1-9 SUBCHAPTER E. COURT COSTS FOR EXTRAORDINARY COSTS OF
1-10 PROSECUTION FUND
1-11 Art. 102.091. COSTS. (a) A defendant convicted of a felony
1-12 shall pay as a cost of court $5.
1-13 (b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), a defendant
1-14 convicted of a misdemeanor shall pay as a cost of court $1.
1-15 (c) This article does not apply to a defendant convicted
1-16 under the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article
1-17 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) if the person is convicted of
1-18 a provision of that Act regulating pedestrians and the parking of
1-19 motor vehicles.
1-20 (d) The clerk of the court shall collect the cost at the
1-21 time of sentencing, unless the defendant files a motion for new
1-22 trial or files an appeal, in which event the clerk of the court
1-23 shall collect the cost when the conviction is final.
1-24 (e) The court may waive the cost imposed under this article
2-1 if the court determines that the defendant is indigent.
2-2 Art. 102.092. RECORD OF COLLECTION. A clerk of the court
2-3 collecting costs due under this subchapter shall keep separate
2-4 records of the funds collected as costs under this subchapter and
2-5 shall deposit the funds in the county treasury.
2-6 Art. 102.093. REPORTS REQUIRED. (a) Clerks of the court
2-7 collecting funds due as costs under this subchapter shall file the
2-8 report required under Article 103.005.
2-9 (b) If no funds due as costs under this subchapter have been
2-10 collected in any quarter, the report required for each quarter
2-11 shall be filed in the regular manner, and the report shall state
2-12 that no funds due under this subchapter were collected.
2-13 Art. 102.094. TRANSFER OF FUNDS TO COMPTROLLER. (a) The
2-14 custodian of the county treasury may deposit the funds collected
2-15 under this subchapter in an interest-bearing account. The
2-16 custodian shall keep records of the amount of funds collected under
2-17 this subchapter that are on deposit with the custodian and shall on
2-18 or before the last day of the month following each calendar quarter
2-19 period of three months remit to the comptroller of public accounts
2-20 funds collected under this subchapter during the preceding quarter.
2-21 (b) A county treasury may retain 10 percent of each cost
2-22 collected under this subchapter as a service fee for the collection
2-23 and may also retain all interest accrued on the funds if the
2-24 custodian of the treasury keeps records of the amount of funds
2-25 collected under this subchapter that are on deposit with the
2-26 treasury and remits the funds to the comptroller within the period
2-27 prescribed in Subsection (a) of this article.
3-1 Art. 102.095. EXTRAORDINARY COSTS OF PROSECUTION FUND. (a)
3-2 The extraordinary costs of prosecution fund is an account in the
3-3 general revenue fund. The comptroller of public accounts shall
3-4 deposit the money received by the comptroller under this subchapter
3-5 in the fund.
3-6 (b) The legislature shall appropriate money from the fund
3-7 only to the criminal justice division of the governor's office.
3-8 The division may distribute the money only to counties with a
3-9 population of less than 30,000 for expenses incurred by the
3-10 counties for the investigation or prosecution of offenses under
3-11 Section 19.02, 19.03, 22.011, or 22.02, Penal Code.
3-12 (c) The prosecuting attorney for the county and the
3-13 commissioners court of the county shall apply jointly to the
3-14 division for a distribution of money under Subsection (a) of this
3-15 article.
3-16 (d) The division may adopt a budget and rules for the
3-17 distribution of money to the counties under this article.
3-18 Art. 102.096. AUDIT. All money collected under this
3-19 subchapter is subject to audit by the comptroller. All money
3-20 distributed to a county under this subchapter and expended by the
3-21 county is subject to audit by the state auditor.
3-22 SECTION 2. Chapter 26, Tax Code, is amended by adding
3-23 Section 26.0441 to read as follows:
3-24 Sec. 26.0441. TAX RATE TO PAY FOR EXTRAORDINARY COSTS OF
3-25 PROSECUTION IN CERTAIN COUNTIES. (a) If the amount a county with
3-26 a population of less than 30,000 spends on extraordinary costs of
3-27 prosecution in the current fiscal year is more than the amount
4-1 spent in the preceding fiscal year on extraordinary costs of
4-2 prosecution, the effective maintenance and operation rate for the
4-3 county is increased by the rate calculated according to the
4-4 following formula:
4-5 (Current Year's Extraordinary Costs of Prosecution - Preceding
4-6 Year's Extraordinary Costs of Prosecution)
4-7 _________________________________________________________________
4-8 (Current Total Value - New Property Value)
4-9 (b) If the amount a county with a population of less than
4-10 30,000 spends on extraordinary costs of prosecution in the current
4-11 fiscal year is less than the amount spent in the preceding fiscal
4-12 year on extraordinary costs of prosecution, the effective
4-13 maintenance and operation rate for the county is decreased by the
4-14 rate calculated according to the following formula:
4-15 (Preceding Year's Extraordinary Costs of Prosecution - Current
4-16 Year's Extraordinary Costs of Prosecution)
4-17 _________________________________________________________________
4-18 (Current Total Value - New Property Value)
4-19 (c) In this section:
4-20 (1) "Current fiscal year" means the fiscal year that
4-21 ends in the tax year for which the effective maintenance and
4-22 operation rate is being calculated.
4-23 (2) "Extraordinary costs of prosecution" means costs
4-24 incurred by a county for the investigation or prosecution of an
4-25 offense under Section 19.02, 19.03, 22.011, or 22.02, Penal Code.
4-26 The term does not include costs for which the county receives
4-27 reimbursement from the extraordinary costs of prosecution fund
5-1 under Article 102.095, Code of Criminal Procedure.
5-2 SECTION 3. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
5-3 (b) Section 1 of this Act applies only to the imposition of
5-4 a cost of court on a conviction of an offense committed on or after
5-5 that date. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed
5-6 before the effective date if any element of the offense occurs
5-7 before that date.
5-8 (c) Section 2 of this Act applies only to a tax rate set on
5-9 or after the effective date of this Act.
5-10 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.