HBA-KMH H.B. 2734 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2734
By: Cook
Criminal Jurisprudence
3/31/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, only merchants or district and county attorneys are allowed to
seek prosecution of persons who secure goods with a promissory note which
contains insufficient funds (NSF).  In an effort to control these losses
and the bank charges incurred through the collection of NSF checks, many
merchants use third party companies to verify checks and collect the
outstanding debt.  However, these third party companies are not allowed to
seek prosecution of persons who write these NSF checks.  H.B. 2734 modifies
the Code of Criminal Procedure to allow third parties to seek assistance
from prosecutors in the collection of bad checks. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Article 21.22, Code of Criminal Procedure, to create
Subsection (a) from existing text and add Subsection (b), as follows: 

(b) Provides that a credible person for the purpose of an information
charging an offense under Chapter 31 (Theft) or 32 (Fraud), Penal Code,
involving a check or sight order authorized to be presented includes in
addition to the holder of the check or sight order, the holder's assignee,
agent, or representative or any other person retained by the holder to seek
collection of the check or sight order. 

SECTION 2.  Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.