1-1  By:  Madla                                             S.B. No. 935
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed March 6, 1995; March 7, 1995, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
    1-4  April 28, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 8,
    1-5  Nays 0; April 28, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating  to the rate of interest on and collection fees for unpaid
    1-9  assessments by water control and improvement districts.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Section 51.313, Water Code, is amended to read as
   1-12  follows:
   1-13        Sec. 51.313.  Interest and Collection Fees.  (a)  All
   1-14  assessments shall bear interest from the date payment is due at the
   1-15  rate of 15 <10> percent a year.
   1-16        (b)  If suit is filed to foreclose a lien on crops or if a
   1-17  delinquent assessment is collected by any legal proceeding, an
   1-18  additional amount of 15 <10> percent on unpaid principal and
   1-19  interest shall be added as collection or attorney's fees.
   1-20        SECTION 2.  The change in law made by Section 51.313, Water
   1-21  Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to:
   1-22              (1)  interest that accrues on an assessment payment
   1-23  that comes due on or after the effective date of this Act; and
   1-24              (2)  a collection fee imposed in a suit or other legal
   1-25  proceeding brought on or after the effective date of this Act.
   1-26        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect January 1, 1996.
   1-27        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-28  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-29  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-30  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-31  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   1-32                               * * * * *