By Hunter of Nueces et al.                            H.B. No. 2238
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to payment of fees for registration or licensing.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Article 8.01, Title 79, Revised Civil Statutes of
    1-5  Texas, 1928, as amended (Article 5069-8.01, Vernon's Texas Civil
    1-6  Statutes) is amended by adding a new section (i) thereto, as
    1-7  follows:
    1-8        (i)  Any person who obtains or has at any time obtained a
    1-9  registration or license required by this Title after the date on
   1-10  which the registration or license was required, may pay to the
   1-11  Commissioner all registration or license fees that should have been
   1-12  paid pursuant to this Title for any and all prior years, plus a
   1-13  late filing fee equal to (a) in the case of license fees, fifty
   1-14  percent (50%) of the license fees paid, or such greater amount as
   1-15  may be required by the Commissioner at the time the person tenders
   1-16  the late fee, but in neither event to exceed $10,000, or (b) in the
   1-17  case of registration fees, fifty percent (50%) of the total of the
   1-18  registration fees paid, or such greater amount as may be required
   1-19  by the Commissioner at the time the person tenders the late fee,
   1-20  but in neither event to exceed two hundred and fifty dollars
   1-21  ($250).  If such person pays the required fees for the prior years
   1-22  and late filing fee, the person shall be deemed for all purposes to
   1-23  have had the required registration or license for the periods for
    2-1  which the registration or license fees and late filing fee have
    2-2  been paid, and such person shall not be subject to any liability,
    2-3  forfeiture or penalty under this Title or other law, other than as
    2-4  set forth in this subsection (i), resulting from or relating to the
    2-5  fact that the person did not have the registration or license at or
    2-6  during the earlier periods for which the required registration or
    2-7  license fees and late filing fee, as provided in this subsection,
    2-8  have since been paid.  The acquisition of the registration or
    2-9  license and payment of the filing fees and late filing fee by a
   2-10  person shall also inure to the benefit of that person's employees,
   2-11  agents, employers, representatives, successors and assigns.
   2-12        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-13  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-14  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-15  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-16  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-17  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-18  passage, and it is so enacted.