By Solis of Bexar H.B. No. 2063
76R7451 JRD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to allowing local registrars and municipal clerks to
1-3 charge a records management and preservation fee.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 191.0045, Health and Safety Code, is
1-6 amended by amending Subsections (d) and (g) and adding Subsection
1-7 (h) to read as follows:
1-8 (d) A local registrar who issues a certified copy of a birth
1-9 or death certificate shall charge the same fees as charged by the
1-10 bureau of vital statistics, including the additional fee required
1-11 under Subsection (e), except as provided by Subsections
1-12 [Subsection] (g) and (h).
1-13 (g) A local registrar that on March 31, 1995, was charging a
1-14 fee for the issuance of a certified copy of a birth certificate
1-15 that exceeded the fee charged by the bureau of vital statistics for
1-16 the same type of certificate may continue to do so but shall not
1-17 raise this fee until the fee charged by the bureau exceeds the fee
1-18 charged by the local registrar, except as provided by Subsection
1-19 (h). A local registrar to which this subsection applies shall
1-20 charge the additional fee as required under Subsection (e) and may
1-21 charge the additional fee allowed under Subsection (h).
1-22 (h) In addition to other fees charged under this section, a
1-23 local registrar may charge a records management and preservation
1-24 fee not to exceed $1 for each copy or certified copy of a birth,
2-1 death, or fetal death record issued by the local registrar. The
2-2 fee may be used only to provide funds for the management and
2-3 preservation of birth, death, fetal death, and other vital
2-4 statistics records maintained by the local registrar.
2-5 SECTION 2. Subtitle A, Title 6, Local Government Code, is
2-6 amended by adding Chapter 190 to read as follows:
2-7 CHAPTER 190. MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
2-8 PROVISIONS AFFECTING MUNICIPALITIES
2-9 Sec. 190.001. RECORDS MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION FEE. In
2-10 addition to the amounts that a municipal clerk may charge for
2-11 providing a copy of a document under Subchapter F, Chapter 552,
2-12 Government Code, or under another law, a municipal clerk may charge
2-13 a records management and preservation fee as an additional fee in
2-14 an amount equal to five percent of the amount the clerk would
2-15 otherwise charge for the copy. Money received from the records
2-16 preservation fee may be used only for the management and
2-17 preservation of municipal records.
2-18 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-19 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.