1-1 By: Shields (Senate Sponsor - Wentworth) H.B. No. 598
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 18, 1997;
1-3 April 22, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Jurisprudence; May 6, 1997, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 6, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to reimbursement of certain administrative costs incurred
1-9 by an employer in implementing a garnishment order.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 63.004, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
1-12 is amended to read as follows:
1-13 Sec. 63.004. CURRENT WAGES EXEMPT. Except as otherwise
1-14 provided by state or federal law, current [Current] wages for
1-15 personal service are not subject to garnishment. The garnishee
1-16 shall be discharged from the garnishment as to any debt to the
1-17 defendant for current wages.
1-18 SECTION 2. Chapter 63, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
1-19 amended by adding Section 63.006 to read as follows:
1-20 Sec. 63.006. ADMINISTRATIVE FEE FOR CERTAIN COSTS INCURRED
1-21 BY EMPLOYERS. (a) An employer who is required by state or federal
1-22 law to deduct from the current wages of an employee an amount
1-23 garnished under a withholding order may deduct monthly an
1-24 administrative fee as provided by Subsection (b) from the
1-25 employee's disposable earnings in addition to the amount required
1-26 to be withheld under the withholding order. This section does not
1-27 apply to income withholding under Chapter 158, Family Code.
1-28 (b) The administrative fee deducted under Subsection (a) may
1-29 not exceed the lesser of:
1-30 (1) the actual administrative cost incurred by the
1-31 employer in complying with the withholding order; or
1-32 (2) $10.
1-33 (c) For the purposes of this section, "withholding order"
1-34 means:
1-35 (1) a withholding order issued under Section 488A,
1-36 Part F, Subchapter IV, Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1-37 Section 1095a); and
1-38 (2) any analogous order issued under a state or
1-39 federal law that:
1-40 (A) requires the garnishment of an employee's
1-41 current wages; and
1-42 (B) does not contain an express provision
1-43 authorizing or prohibiting the payment of the administrative costs
1-44 incurred by the employer in complying with the garnishment by the
1-45 affected employee.
1-46 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
1-47 applies only to recovery by an employer of administrative costs
1-48 incurred by the employer in complying with a withholding order, as
1-49 that term is defined by Section 63.006, Civil Practice and Remedies
1-50 Code, as added by this Act, that applies to wages paid by the
1-51 employer and received on or after September 1, 1997, by an employee
1-52 subject to the withholding order. Wages received by the employee
1-53 before September 1, 1997, are governed by the law in effect on the
1-54 date the wages were paid, and the former law is continued in effect
1-55 for that purpose.
1-56 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-57 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-58 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-59 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-60 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-61 * * * * *