By Rabuck                                        H.B. No. 267

      75R2389 GWK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the payment of certain court fees and costs in suits

 1-3     brought by inmates.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Sections 14.006(b) and (c), Civil Practice and

 1-6     Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:

 1-7           (b)  On the court's order, the inmate shall pay an amount

 1-8     equal to the lesser of:

 1-9                 (1)  100 [20] percent of the preceding six months'

1-10     deposits to the inmate's trust account; or

1-11                 (2)  the total amount of court fees and costs.

1-12           (c)  In each month following the month in which payment is

1-13     made under Subsection (b), the inmate shall pay an amount equal to

1-14     the lesser of:

1-15                 (1)  100 [10] percent of that month's deposits to the

1-16     trust account; or

1-17                 (2)  the total amount of court fees and costs that

1-18     remain unpaid.

1-19           SECTION 2.  Subsections (b) and (c), Section 14.006, Civil

1-20     Practice and Remedies Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to

1-21     court fees and costs to be paid by an inmate who  files a claim on

1-22     or after the effective date of this Act.  An inmate who files a

1-23     claim before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law

1-24     in effect when the claim was filed, and the former law is continued

 2-1     in effect for this purpose.

 2-2           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 2-7     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 2-8     passage, and it is so enacted.