S.B. No. 261
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to certain charges in connection with a fine for violation
    1-2  of a motor vehicle law.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Title 116, Revised Statutes, is amended by adding
    1-5  Article 6701d-28 to read as follows:
    1-6        Art. 6701d-28.  LOCAL GOVERNMENT EXPENSE IN COLLECTING FINES.
    1-7  (a)  In this article:
    1-8              (1)  "Delinquent fine" means a fine that has been
    1-9  imposed by judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction and that
   1-10  has not been paid before the 31st day after the date that the court
   1-11  ordered the fine was due and owed to a municipality or county.
   1-12              (2)  "Motor vehicle misdemeanor" means a violation,
   1-13  punishable as a misdemeanor, of a statute or municipal ordinance
   1-14  that regulates:
   1-15                    (A)  parking or stopping of a motor vehicle;
   1-16                    (B)  a driver's conduct or condition while
   1-17  operating a motor vehicle; or
   1-18                    (C)  the condition of a motor vehicle while it is
   1-19  being operated.
   1-20        (b)  A court of competent jurisdiction may collect or
   1-21  authorize a fee related to the collection of delinquent fines for
   1-22  motor vehicle misdemeanors from a person who owes a delinquent fine
   1-23  for a motor vehicle misdemeanor in an amount equal to the lesser
   1-24  of:
    2-1              (1)  20 percent of the amount of the fine; or
    2-2              (2)  $50.
    2-3        (c)  This article does not apply to delinquent fines for
    2-4  parking or stopping a motor vehicle in a municipality which has
    2-5  disannexed territory previously annexed for limited purposes and
    2-6  which employs the practice of immobilization of motor vehicles with
    2-7  a mechanical device unless all the parking meters in the
    2-8  municipality accept any coins minted by the United States which
    2-9  have a value between five cents and 25 cents.
   2-10        (d)  This article does not prohibit a court of competent
   2-11  jurisdiction, a municipality, or a county from using any other
   2-12  lawful means to enforce a judgment.
   2-13        SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
   2-14  to a fine that becomes delinquent on or after the effective date of
   2-15  this Act.
   2-16        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-17        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.