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.

         _______________________________     _______________________________

             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House

               I certify that H.B. No. 2600 was passed by the House on May

         2, 1997, by a non-record vote.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Chief Clerk of the House

               I certify that H.B. No. 2600 was passed by the Senate on May

         21, 1997, by the following vote:  Yeas 29, Nays 2.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Secretary of the Senate

         APPROVED:  _____________________

                            Date

                    _____________________

                          Governor