By Uher                                         H.B. No. 1947

      75R6843 GJH-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the collection of restitution and fines by a peace

 1-3     officer.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 614.041, Government Code, is amended by

 1-6     adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:

 1-7           (d)  It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(1)

 1-8     that the peace officer accepts for collection a fine or restitution

 1-9     for a Class C misdemeanor if the amount of the fine or restitution

1-10     collected is the same as the amount of the fine or restitution

1-11     indicated on the face of the  arrest warrant issued for the

1-12     offense.

1-13           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-14     applies only to a collection on or after the effective date of this

1-15     Act.  A peace officer who collects a fine or restitution before the

1-16     effective date of this Act is subject to the law in effect on the

1-17     day the collection was made, and the former law is continued in

1-18     effect for that purpose.

1-19           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.