By Madla                                        S.B. No. 1217

      75R9030 MWV-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to certain fees collected by district court clerks.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 51.317, Government Code, is amended by

 1-5     amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (d) to read as

 1-6     follows:

 1-7           (b)  The fees are:

 1-8                 (1)  for filing a suit, including an appeal from an

 1-9     inferior court and for filing a petition for preindictment writ of

1-10     habeas corpus ................................................. $45

1-11                 (2)  for filing a cross-action, intervention, contempt

1-12     action, motion for new trial, or third-party petition ......... $15

1-13                 (3)  for issuing a subpoena, including one copy, when

1-14     requested at the time a suit or action is filed ................ $4

1-15                 (4)  for issuing a citation or other writ or process

1-16     not otherwise provided for, including one copy, when requested at

1-17     the time a suit or action is filed ............................. $8

1-18                 (5)  for the records  management  and  preservation

1-19     fund ........................................................... $5

1-20                 (6)  for the records  management  and  preservation

1-21     fund ......................................................... $3. 

1-22           (d)  A person may establish an exemption from paying the $3

1-23     filing fee required under Subsection (b)(6) by providing the

1-24     district clerk with an affidavit stating that:

 2-1                 (1)  the plaintiff is indigent and unable to pay the

 2-2     filing fee; or

 2-3                 (2)  the plaintiff is a resident of this state.

 2-4           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

 2-5     applies to a fee that becomes payable on or after that date.  A fee

 2-6     that became payable before the effective date of this Act is

 2-7     governed by the law in effect when the fee became payable, and that

 2-8     law is continued in effect for that purpose.

 2-9           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.