By Driver, Crabb, Oliveira                             H.B. No. 159

         75R10197 MWV-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to assignments by certain recipients of state assistance

 1-3     of lottery prizes to the state and collection of those assignments.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 466.406(a), Government Code, is amended

 1-6     to read as follows:

 1-7           (a)  Except as otherwise provided by this chapter [section],

 1-8     the right of any person to a prize is not assignable.

 1-9           SECTION 2.  Subchapter I, Chapter 466, Government Code, is

1-10     amended by adding Section 466.4077 to read as follows:

1-11           Sec. 466.4077.  ASSIGNMENT OF RIGHT TO LOTTERY PRIZE.

1-12     (a)  The  receipt of benefits under Chapter 31 or 33,  Human

1-13     Resources Code, constitutes an assignment to the general revenue

1-14     fund of any rights to a lottery prize in the amount of $600 or more

1-15     that the recipient may have in the recipient's behalf or for a

1-16     child for whom the recipient is claiming assistance in the

1-17     aggregated amount of the assistance provided to the recipient or to

1-18     a child of the recipient.

1-19           (b)  The assignment under this section is valid only for the

1-20     award of a lottery prize that is won not more than 60 days after

1-21     the date the recipient or a child of the recipient receives any

1-22     benefits under Chapter 31 or 33, Human Resources Code.

1-23           (c)  After deducting an amount payable under Section 466.407,

1-24     the director shall deduct the amount of the assignment under this

 2-1     section from the winnings of a person.

 2-2           (d)  If a person's winnings exceed a deduction under

 2-3     Subsection (c), the director shall pay the balance to the person.

 2-4           (e)  The Texas Department of Human Services shall provide the

 2-5     director with information necessary for the deduction of the amount

 2-6     of an assignment made under this section.

 2-7           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

 2-8     applies to assistance provided under Chapter 31 or 33, Human

 2-9     Resources Code, and lottery prizes won on or after that date.

2-10     Assistance provided under Chapter 31 or 33, Human Resources Code,

2-11     and lottery prizes won before the effective date of this Act are

2-12     governed by the law in effect on the date assistance was provided

2-13     or lottery prizes won, and the former law is continued in effect

2-14     for that purpose.

2-15           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.