By Jones of Dallas                                    H.B. No. 1508
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to court costs for certain traffic convictions and
    1-3  administrative fees for certain criminal convictions in justice
    1-4  courts.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Article 45.50, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-7  amended by adding Sections (c) and (d) as follows:
    1-8        (c)  The defendant shall pay an administrative fee in the
    1-9  amount of $2 in each case of conviction in a criminal action where
   1-10  the judgment allows the defendant to pay the entire fine and costs
   1-11  at some later date or to pay a specified portion of the fine and
   1-12  costs at designated intervals.
   1-13        (d)  A justice of the peace collecting the administrative fee
   1-14  under this article shall deposit the funds in the county treasury.
   1-15  A municipal court collecting the administrative fee under this
   1-16  article shall deposit the funds in the municipal treasury.  A
   1-17  municipal or county treasury may retain the administrative fees as
   1-18  a service fee for the collection of the judgments.
   1-19        SECTION 2.  Section (c), Article 102.014, Code of Criminal
   1-20  Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
   1-21        (c)  A person convicted of an offense under the Uniform Act
   1-22  Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil
   1-23  Statutes), when the offense occurs within a school crossing zone as
   1-24  defined by Section 20L of that Act, shall pay as court costs $25
    2-1  <$20> in addition to other taxable court costs.  A person convicted
    2-2  of an offense under Section 104, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
    2-3  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), shall pay
    2-4  as court costs $20 in addition to other taxable court costs.  A
    2-5  person convicted of an offense under Section 4.25, Education Code,
    2-6  shall pay as taxable court costs $20 in addition to other taxable
    2-7  court costs.  The additional court costs under this subsection
    2-8  shall be collected in the same manner that other fines and taxable
    2-9  court costs in the case are collected.
   2-10        SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-11        (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to an
   2-12  offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.  For
   2-13  purposes of this Act, an offense was committed before the effective
   2-14  date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred before the
   2-15  effective date of this Act.
   2-16        (c)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
   2-17  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
   2-18  and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
   2-19        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.