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 * * * * *