By Longoria H.B. No. 71 75R819 MWV-D A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to fees collected in certain civil suits. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Section 51.317, Government Code, is amended by 1-5 adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows: 1-6 (d) The district clerk shall collect, in addition to other 1-7 fees, a $45 joint action filing fee from each plaintiff who is a 1-8 party to a joint action. 1-9 (e) A plaintiff may establish an exemption from paying the 1-10 joint action filing fee required under Subsection (d) by providing 1-11 the district clerk with an affidavit stating that: 1-12 (1) the joint action regards a matter under the Family 1-13 Code; 1-14 (2) the plaintiff is indigent and unable to pay the 1-15 joint action filing fee; 1-16 (3) the filing fee under Subsection (b)(1) has been 1-17 paid for each plaintiff who is a party to the joint action or an 1-18 affidavit has been provided to the clerk under Subdivision (2) or 1-19 (4) for each plaintiff who is a party to the joint action; or 1-20 (4) the plaintiff is a resident of this state. 1-21 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and 1-22 applies to a fee that becomes payable for a suit filed in a 1-23 district court or appealed from an inferior court on or after that 1-24 date. A fee that became payable before the effective date of this 2-1 Act is governed by the law in effect when the fee became payable, 2-2 and that law is continued in effect for that purpose. 2-3 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.