1-1  By:  Thompson (Senate Sponsor - Henderson)            H.B. No. 2673
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House May 1, 1995;
    1-3  May 2, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
    1-4  Jurisprudence; May 16, 1995, reported favorably by the following
    1-5  vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 16, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the imposition and collection of additional court costs
    1-9  in certain counties.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Section 25.0016(c), Government Code, is amended
   1-12  to read as follows:
   1-13        (c)  In determining the amount deposited in the judicial fund
   1-14  under Section 51.702 for a county that collects fees and costs as
   1-15  provided by that section, the comptroller shall credit $30
   1-16  <one-half> of each fee <the fees> deposited in the judicial fund
   1-17  under Section 51.701 by that county for cases assigned to a
   1-18  statutory county court as fees deposited under Section 51.702.
   1-19        SECTION 2.  Sections 51.702(a) and (b), Government Code, are
   1-20  amended to read as follows:
   1-21        (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (g), in addition to all
   1-22  other fees authorized or required by other law, the clerk of a
   1-23  statutory county court shall collect a $30 <$20> filing fee in each
   1-24  civil case filed in the court to be used for court-related purposes
   1-25  for the support of the judiciary.
   1-26        (b)  In addition to other court costs, a person shall pay $15
   1-27  <$10> as a court cost on conviction of any criminal offense in a
   1-28  statutory county court, including cases in which probation or
   1-29  deferred adjudication is granted.  A conviction that arises under
   1-30  Chapter 173, Acts of the 47th Legislature, Regular Session, 1941
   1-31  (Article 6687b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or a conviction
   1-32  under the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Article
   1-33  6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) is included, except that a
   1-34  conviction arising under any law that regulates pedestrians or the
   1-35  parking of motor vehicles is not included.
   1-36        SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act applies only to filing fees for
   1-37  civil cases filed on or after the effective date of this Act.
   1-38        (b)  This Act applies only to a cost on conviction of an
   1-39  offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.  For
   1-40  purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the
   1-41  effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
   1-42  before the effective date.
   1-43        (c)  A cost on conviction of an offense committed before the
   1-44  effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
   1-45  offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect
   1-46  for that purpose.
   1-47        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-48  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-49  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-50  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-51  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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