H.B. No. 2673
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the imposition and collection of additional court costs
    1-3  in certain counties.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 25.0016(c), Government Code, is amended
    1-6  to read as follows:
    1-7        (c)  In determining the amount deposited in the judicial fund
    1-8  under Section 51.702 for a county that collects fees and costs as
    1-9  provided by that section, the comptroller shall credit $30
   1-10  <one-half> of each fee <the fees> deposited in the judicial fund
   1-11  under Section 51.701 by that county for cases assigned to a
   1-12  statutory county court as fees deposited under Section 51.702.
   1-13        SECTION 2.  Sections 51.702(a) and (b), Government Code, are
   1-14  amended to read as follows:
   1-15        (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (g), in addition to all
   1-16  other fees authorized or required by other law, the clerk of a
   1-17  statutory county court shall collect a $30 <$20> filing fee in each
   1-18  civil case filed in the court to be used for court-related purposes
   1-19  for the support of the judiciary.
   1-20        (b)  In addition to other court costs, a person shall pay $15
   1-21  <$10> as a court cost on conviction of any criminal offense in a
   1-22  statutory county court, including cases in which probation or
   1-23  deferred adjudication is granted.  A conviction that arises under
    2-1  Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th Legislature, Regular Session, 1941
    2-2  (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or a conviction
    2-3  under the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article
    2-4  6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) is included, except that a
    2-5  conviction arising under any law that regulates pedestrians or the
    2-6  parking of motor vehicles is not included.
    2-7        SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act applies only to filing fees for
    2-8  civil cases filed on or after the effective date of this Act.
    2-9        (b)  This Act applies only to a cost on conviction of an
   2-10  offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.  For
   2-11  purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the
   2-12  effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
   2-13  before the effective date.
   2-14        (c)  A cost on conviction of an offense committed before the
   2-15  effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
   2-16  offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect
   2-17  for that purpose.
   2-18        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.