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.

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