By Wentworth                                           S.B. No. 835
       74R4724 GWK-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the imposition of a cost on conviction of a felony.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 102, Code of Criminal
    1-5  Procedure, is amended by adding Article 102.020 to read as follows:
    1-6        Art. 102.020.  COSTS FOR JUDICIAL EDUCATION.  (a)  A person
    1-7  convicted of a felony shall pay as a court cost $5 in addition to
    1-8  other court costs.
    1-9        (b)  In this article, a person is considered to have been
   1-10  convicted in a case if:
   1-11              (1)  a sentence is imposed; or
   1-12              (2)  the defendant receives community supervision,
   1-13  including deferred adjudication community supervision.
   1-14        (c)  An officer collecting a cost under this article shall
   1-15  collect the cost in the same manner as other costs are collected in
   1-16  the case.
   1-17        (d)  A cost collected under this article shall be deposited
   1-18  in the county treasury in a special account to be administered by
   1-19  the court imposing the cost.  Expenditures from this special
   1-20  account shall be at the sole discretion of the judge and may be
   1-21  used only to acquire or maintain a research library for the court
   1-22  or pay travel and related expenses necessary for the judge or court
   1-23  staff to attend a judicial or legal professional activity sponsored
   1-24  by an organization accredited by the Supreme Court of Texas as a
    2-1  provider of continuing judicial or legal education.
    2-2        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
    2-3  only to a cost on conviction of an offense committed on or after
    2-4  the effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this section, an
    2-5  offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any
    2-6  element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
    2-7        (b)  A cost on conviction of an offense committed before the
    2-8  effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
    2-9  offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect
   2-10  for that purpose.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-12        SECTION 4.  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.