By Madla                                               S.B. No. 935
       74R6743 MI-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating  to the rate of interest on and collection fees for unpaid
    1-3  assessments by water control and improvement districts.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 51.313, Water Code, is amended to read as
    1-6  follows:
    1-7        Sec. 51.313.  Interest and Collection Fees.  (a)  All
    1-8  assessments shall bear interest from the date payment is due at the
    1-9  rate of 15 <10> percent a year.
   1-10        (b)  If suit is filed to foreclose a lien on crops or if a
   1-11  delinquent assessment is collected by any legal proceeding, an
   1-12  additional amount of 15 <10> percent on unpaid principal and
   1-13  interest shall be added as collection or attorney's fees.
   1-14        SECTION 2.  The change in law made by Section 51.313, Water
   1-15  Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to:
   1-16              (1)  interest that accrues on an assessment payment
   1-17  that comes due on or after the effective date of this Act; and
   1-18              (2)  a collection fee imposed in a suit or other legal
   1-19  proceeding brought on or after the effective date of this Act.
   1-20        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect January 1, 1996.
   1-21        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-22  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-23  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-24  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.