By Denny                                               H.B. No. 352
         76R2660 WP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the limit on fines collected by municipalities for
 1-3     traffic violations.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 542.402, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-6     to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 542.402.  DISPOSITION OF FINES.  (a)  A municipality or
 1-8     county shall use a fine collected for a violation of [a highway law
 1-9     in] this title [subtitle] to:
1-10                 (1)  construct and maintain roads, bridges, and
1-11     culverts in the municipality or county;
1-12                 (2)  enforce laws regulating the use of highways by
1-13     motor vehicles; and
1-14                 (3)  defray the expense of county traffic officers.
1-15           (b)  In each fiscal year, a municipality having a population
1-16     of less than 5,000 may retain, from fines collected for violations
1-17     of [highway laws in] this title [subtitle] and from special
1-18     expenses collected under Article 45.54, Code of Criminal Procedure,
1-19     in cases in which a violation of this title [subtitle] is alleged,
1-20     an amount equal to 30 percent of the municipality's revenue for the
1-21     preceding fiscal year from all sources, other than federal funds
1-22     and bond proceeds, as shown by the audit performed under Section
1-23     103.001, Local Government Code.  After a municipality has retained
1-24     that amount, the municipality shall send to the comptroller any
 2-1     portion of a fine or a special expense collected that exceeds $1.
 2-2           (c)  The comptroller shall enforce Subsection (b).
 2-3           (d)  In a fiscal year in which a municipality retains from
 2-4     fines and special expenses collected for violations of [highway
 2-5     laws in] this title [subtitle] an amount equal to at least 20
 2-6     percent of the municipality's revenue for the  preceding fiscal
 2-7     year from all sources other than federal funds and bond proceeds,
 2-8     not later than the 120th day after the last day of the
 2-9     municipality's fiscal year, the municipality shall send to the
2-10     comptroller:
2-11                 (1)  a copy of the municipality's financial statement
2-12     for that fiscal year filed under Chapter 103, Local Government
2-13     Code; and
2-14                 (2)  a report that shows the total amount collected for
2-15     that fiscal year from fines and special expenses under Subsection
2-16     (b).
2-17           (e)  If an audit is conducted by the comptroller under
2-18     Subsection (c) and it is determined that the municipality is
2-19     retaining more than 20 percent of the amounts under Subsection (b)
2-20     and has not complied with Subsection (d), the municipality shall
2-21     pay the costs incurred by the comptroller in conducting the audit.
2-22           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-23     applies only to fines and special expenses collected in a fiscal
2-24     year that begins on or after that date.  Fines and special expenses
2-25     collected in a fiscal year that begins before the effective date of
2-26     this Act are governed by the law in effect immediately before the
2-27     effective date of this Act and that law is continued in effect for
 3-1     that purpose.
 3-2           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.