By King H.B. No. 2600
75R11248 GCH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the collection of delinquent obligations to the state.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 2107.003, Government Code, is amended by
1-5 amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
1-6 follows:
1-7 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (c), a [A] state agency
1-8 shall request the attorney general to collect an obligation before
1-9 the agency may employ, retain, or contract with a person other than
1-10 a full-time employee of the state agency to collect the obligation.
1-11 (c) The comptroller may employ, retain, or contract with a
1-12 person other than a full-time state employee to collect delinquent
1-13 obligations that are owed the comptroller in the comptroller's
1-14 official capacity, are not collected through normal collection
1-15 procedures, and do not meet the guidelines adopted for collection
1-16 by the attorney general. A proposed contract under this subsection
1-17 shall be reviewed by the attorney general and may include a
1-18 collection fee computed on the amounts collected under the
1-19 contract.
1-20 SECTION 2. Section 2107.004, Government Code, is amended to
1-21 read as follows:
1-22 Sec. 2107.004. NOTICE TO ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR FURTHER
1-23 COLLECTION. Except as provided by Section 2107.003(c), not [Not]
1-24 later than the 30th day after the date a state agency determines
2-1 that normal agency collection procedures for an obligation owed the
2-2 agency have failed, the agency shall report the uncollected and
2-3 delinquent obligation to the attorney general for further
2-4 collection efforts.
2-5 SECTION 3. (a) The comptroller and the attorney general
2-6 jointly shall conduct a study of the collection of delinquent
2-7 obligations to the state. The officers shall identify state
2-8 agencies owed a significant amount of delinquent obligations and
2-9 include representatives of those agencies in the group performing
2-10 the study.
2-11 (b) The study group shall identify the best procedures for
2-12 collecting delinquent obligations, examine procedural changes that
2-13 would reduce the time and cost of collection, and determine the
2-14 benefits and drawbacks, including savings and costs, of
2-15 centralizing the collection of delinquent obligations.
2-16 (c) The study group shall submit its findings and
2-17 recommendations to the 76th Legislature by filing a copy of a
2-18 report of the study with the lieutenant governor and the speaker of
2-19 the house of representatives not later than January 1, 1999.
2-20 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-21 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-22 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-23 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-24 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-25 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-26 passage, and it is so enacted.