By: Patterson S.B. No. 918
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to funding the costs of apprehending certain inmates for
1-2 whom warrants are issued by the Board of Pardons and Paroles or the
1-3 pardons and paroles division of the Texas Department of Criminal
1-4 Justice.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 102, Code of Criminal
1-7 Procedure, is amended by adding Article 102.019 to read as follows:
1-8 Art. 102.019. FELONY COSTS FOR FUGITIVE APPREHENSION.
1-9 (a) A person shall pay $5 as a court cost on conviction of a
1-10 felony.
1-11 (b) The court shall assess and make a reasonable effort to
1-12 collect the cost due under this article whether or not any other
1-13 court cost is assessed or collected.
1-14 (c) For purposes of this article, a person is considered to
1-15 have been convicted if:
1-16 (1) a sentence is imposed; or
1-17 (2) the defendant receives community supervision or
1-18 deferred adjudication.
1-19 (d) Court costs under this article are collected in the same
1-20 manner as other fines or costs. The officer collecting the costs
1-21 shall keep separate records of the funds collected as costs under
1-22 this article and shall deposit the funds in the county treasury.
1-23 (e) The custodian of a county treasury shall:
2-1 (1) keep records of the amount of funds on deposit
2-2 collected under this article; and
2-3 (2) send to the comptroller before the last day of the
2-4 first month following each calendar quarter the funds collected
2-5 under this article during the preceding quarter.
2-6 (f) A county may retain 10 percent of the funds collected
2-7 under this article as a collection fee if the custodian of the
2-8 county treasury complies with Subsection (e).
2-9 (g) If no funds due as costs under this article are
2-10 deposited in a county treasury in a calendar quarter, the custodian
2-11 of the county treasury shall file the report required for the
2-12 quarter in the regular manner and must state that no funds were
2-13 collected.
2-14 (h) The comptroller shall deposit the funds received under
2-15 this article to the credit of the fugitive apprehension account in
2-16 the general revenue fund.
2-17 (i) Funds collected under this article are subject to audit
2-18 by the comptroller.
2-19 SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 411, Government Code, is
2-20 amended by adding Section 411.0097 to read as follows:
2-21 Sec. 411.0097. FUGITIVE APPREHENSION ACCOUNT. The fugitive
2-22 apprehension account is a special account in the general revenue
2-23 fund. The legislature may appropriate funds in the account only
2-24 for the purpose of paying for the cost to the department of
2-25 apprehending individuals for whom warrants have been issued under
3-1 Section 13, Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure.
3-2 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-3 SECTION 4. The court cost authorized by Article 102.019,
3-4 Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, applies only to a
3-5 conviction for an offense that is committed on or after the
3-6 effective date of this Act. For purposes of this section, an
3-7 offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any
3-8 element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
3-9 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.