Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
By Lewis of Orange H.B. No. 1341
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the maintenance and preservation of public records
1-3 filed with a county clerk and the collection and application of
1-4 certain user fees.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. The legislature has determined that the
1-7 deterioration of public records in the county clerks' offices
1-8 constitutes a threat to the integrity and reliability of the
1-9 existing system for preserving public records. The purpose of this
1-10 legislation is to provide a user fee which will be used to restore,
1-11 re-create, preserve, and make archivally permanent all public
1-12 records in the office of the county clerk and, upon completion of
1-13 the task, to provide for the elimination of the user fee.
1-14 SECTION 2. Section 118.001, Local Government Code, is
1-15 amended to read as follows:
1-16 Sec. 118.001. DEFINITIONS [DEFINITION]. In this chapter:
1-17 (1) "Archivally permanent" has the meaning commonly
1-18 used by the Texas State Library.
1-19 (2) "Deterioration" means any physical or chemical
1-20 process which results in public records being made illegible, in
1-21 whole or in part, or being destroyed, in whole or in part.
1-22 (3) "Documents" [, "document"] includes any
1-23 instrument, document, paper, or record which the county clerk is
1-24 authorized to accept for filing.
2-1 (4) "Public records and archives" means documents
2-2 which have been filed with the county clerk prior to 1990.
2-3 (5) "Restoration," "re-creation," and "preservation"
2-4 mean any process which arrests or reduces the deterioration of
2-5 public records and archives or permits public records and archives
2-6 to be made more legible or to be made available to the public in a
2-7 manner which reduces the risk of destruction or deterioration.
2-8 (6) "User fee" means a mandatory fee which must be
2-9 collected at the time any document is filed with the county clerk's
2-10 office.
2-11 SECTION 3. Subsection (b), Section 118.011, Local Government
2-12 Code, is amended to read as follows:
2-13 (b) The county clerk may set and collect the following fee
2-14 from any person:
2-15 (1) Returned Check
2-16 (Sec. 118.0215)................. not less than $15
2-17 or more than $25
2-18 (2) Records Management and Preservation
2-19 Fee (Sec. 118.0216).............. not more than $5
2-20 (3) Records Restoration and Re-creation
2-21 Fee (Sec. 118.0217)........................... $10
2-22 SECTION 4. Subchapter B, Local Government Code, is amended
2-23 by adding Section 118.0217 to read as follows:
2-24 Sec. 118.0217. RECORDS RESTORATION AND RE-CREATION.
2-25 (a) The user fee for "Records Restoration and Re-creation" under
2-26 Section 118.011 is for the records restoration and re-creation
2-27 services performed by the county clerk after the filing and
2-28 recording of a document in the records of the office of the clerk.
2-29 The user fee must be paid at the time of the filing of a document.
2-30 The user fee shall be deposited into a separate account. The user
3-1 fee may be expended by the county clerk only to provide funds for
3-2 specific restoration, re-creation, and preservation of public
3-3 records and archives.
3-4 (b) On completion of the restoration, re-creation, and
3-5 preservation of the public records and archives, the county clerk
3-6 shall certify to the commissioners court the completion of the
3-7 restoration, re-creation, and preservation project. Any unexpended
3-8 user fees shall be returned to the comptroller. The county clerk
3-9 shall eliminate and thereafter not collect the user fee.
3-10 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-15 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-16 passage, and it is so enacted.