By Hartnett                                           H.B. No. 1613
       74R4666 PAM-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to fees collected by certain county officers.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 118.131(f), Local Government Code, is
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (f)  On or before October 15 of the <each> year in which the
    1-7  fees are initially set, the commissioners court shall provide
    1-8  written notice of the amounts of the fees <set under this section>
    1-9  to the comptroller.  If the commissioners court changes the amount
   1-10  of a fee set under this section, the commissioners court shall
   1-11  provide to the comptroller, on or before October 15 of the year in
   1-12  which the amount is changed, a written notice of the change in the
   1-13  amount of the fee.  Before December 15 of each year, the
   1-14  comptroller shall compile the fee information provided by counties
   1-15  and send the compilation to:
   1-16              (1)  the commissioners court of each county in this
   1-17  state;
   1-18              (2)  any statewide association of counties or of
   1-19  officers of counties that requests in writing before December 15 to
   1-20  be informed; and
   1-21              (3)  the State Bar of Texas.
   1-22        SECTION 2.  Section 51.601, Government Code, is amended to
   1-23  read as follows:
   1-24        Sec. 51.601.  Court Reporter Fee.  (a)  The clerk of each
    2-1  court that has an official court reporter shall collect a court
    2-2  reporter fee of $15 as a court cost in each civil case in which a
    2-3  record of evidence presented in the case is made by the reporter.
    2-4        (b)  The clerk shall collect this fee in the manner provided
    2-5  for other court costs and shall deposit the fee to the credit of
    2-6  the office of the court reporter in a special salary fund created
    2-7  in the county depository <general fund> of the county in which the
    2-8  court sits.
    2-9        (c)  The salary fund for the office of the court reporter
   2-10  shall be created and administered in the same manner as provided
   2-11  for county officers by:
   2-12              (1)  Sections 154.023, 154.024, and 154.025, Local
   2-13  Government Code, in a county with a population of 190,000 or less;
   2-14  or
   2-15              (2)  Sections 154.042, 154.044, and 154.045, Local
   2-16  Government Code, in a county with a population of more than
   2-17  190,000.
   2-18        (d) <(b)>  This section does not apply to an action brought
   2-19  to collect delinquent taxes.
   2-20        SECTION 3.  Section 51.702(f), Government Code, is amended to
   2-21  read as follows:
   2-22        (f)  This section applies only to fees and costs <for a
   2-23  12-month period beginning July 1> in a county in which the
   2-24  commissioners court:
   2-25              (1)  adopts a resolution authorizing the fees and costs
   2-26  under this section <for the 12-month period>; and
   2-27              (2)  files the resolution with the comptroller not
    3-1  later than the first day of the month that <June 1> immediately
    3-2  precedes the date the fees and costs become effective <preceding
    3-3  the 12-month period during which the fees and costs are to be
    3-4  collected>.
    3-5        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-6  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-7  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-8  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-9  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.