By Goodman                                             H.B. No. 870
         76R2376 SMJ-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to county fees for handling certain registry funds.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 117.055(a), Local Government Code, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  To compensate the county for the accounting and
 1-7     administrative expenses incurred in handling the registry funds
 1-8     that have not earned interest, including funds in a special or
 1-9     separate account, the clerk shall, at the time of withdrawal,
1-10     deduct from the amount of the withdrawal a fee in an amount equal
1-11     to five percent of the withdrawal but that may not exceed $50.
1-12     Withdrawal of funds generated from a case arising under the Family
1-13     Code is exempt from the fee deduction provided by this section.
1-14           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999,  and
1-15     applies only to withdrawals of funds that are made on or after that
1-16     date.
1-17           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.