1-1     By:  King (Senate Sponsor - Lucio)                    H.B. No. 2600

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1997;

 1-3     May 6, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on State

 1-4     Affairs; May 16, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:

 1-5     Yeas 10, Nays 2; May 16, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the collection of delinquent obligations to the state.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 2107.003, Government Code, is amended by

1-11     amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as

1-12     follows:

1-13           (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), a [A] state agency

1-14     shall request the attorney general to collect an obligation before

1-15     the agency may employ, retain, or contract with a person other than

1-16     a full-time employee of the state agency to collect the obligation.

1-17           (c)  The comptroller may employ, retain, or contract with a

1-18     person other than a full-time state employee to collect delinquent

1-19     obligations that are owed the comptroller in the comptroller's

1-20     official capacity, are not collected through normal collection

1-21     procedures, and do not meet the guidelines adopted for collection

1-22     by the attorney general.  A proposed contract under this subsection

1-23     shall be reviewed by the attorney general and may include a

1-24     collection fee computed on the amounts collected under the

1-25     contract.

1-26           SECTION 2.  Section 2107.004, Government Code, is amended to

1-27     read as follows:

1-28           Sec. 2107.004.  NOTICE TO ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR FURTHER

1-29     COLLECTION.  Except as provided by Section 2107.003(c), not [Not]

1-30     later than the 30th day after the date a state agency determines

1-31     that normal agency collection procedures for an obligation owed the

1-32     agency have failed, the agency shall report the uncollected and

1-33     delinquent obligation to the attorney general for further

1-34     collection efforts.

1-35           SECTION 3.  (a)  The comptroller and the attorney general

1-36     jointly shall conduct a study of the collection of delinquent

1-37     obligations to the state.  The officers shall identify state

1-38     agencies owed a significant amount of delinquent obligations and

1-39     include representatives of those agencies in the group performing

1-40     the study.

1-41           (b)  The study group shall identify the best procedures for

1-42     collecting delinquent obligations, examine procedural changes that

1-43     would reduce the time and cost of collection, and determine the

1-44     benefits and drawbacks, including savings and costs, of

1-45     centralizing the collection of delinquent obligations.

1-46           (c)  The study group shall submit its findings and

1-47     recommendations to the 76th Legislature by filing a copy of a

1-48     report of the study with the lieutenant governor and the speaker of

1-49     the house of representatives not later than January 1, 1999.

1-50           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-51     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-52     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-53     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-54     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-55     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-56     passage, and it is so enacted.

1-57                                  * * * * *