HBA-NMO H.B. 3249 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3249
By: Allen
Criminal Jurisprudence
4/5/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law prohibits a district or county attorney from accepting a reward
or the promise of reward for prosecuting a case as required by law.   

The Texas Department of Human Services' (DHS) Office of Inspector General
(OIG) investigates cases of alleged fraud in welfare programs, including
food stamps.  OIG presents the facts of a case, if it determines that a
recipient has violated the law, to the respective local prosecutorial
attorney's office.  The United States Department of Agriculture provides
the state with funds to defray a portion of the costs incurred by the
prosecutorial attorney's office in prosecuting the case.  DHS, in turn,
acts as a conduit of these funds to the prosecutorial attorney.   

H.B. 3249 provides that Section 41.004, Penal Code, prohibiting a
prosecutorial attorney from accepting reward or promise thereof to
prosecute a case, does not apply to funds provided by the U.S. government
through the Texas Department of Human Services to local prosecutorial
offices for the purpose of assisting to defray the costs of prosecutions.   

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 Section 41.004, Government Code, to provide that this
section does not apply to funds provided by the U.S. government through the
Texas Department of Human Services to local prosecutorial offices for the
purpose of assisting to defray the costs of prosecutions.  This section
prohibits a district or county attorney from accepting a reward or the
promise thereof for prosecuting a case as required by law. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.