By Swinford                                           H.B. No. 2861
         76R7601 JMC-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the cost on a criminal conviction for deposit in the
 1-3     judicial and court personnel training fund.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 56.001(b), Government Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  In addition to other court costs, a person shall pay
 1-8     $1.75 [$1] as a court cost on conviction of any criminal offense,
 1-9     including cases in which probation or deferred adjudication is
1-10     granted or in which final disposition in the case is deferred.  A
1-11     conviction that arises under Chapter 521, Transportation Code, or a
1-12     conviction under Subtitle C, Title 7, Transportation Code, is
1-13     included, except that a conviction arising under any law that
1-14     regulates pedestrians or the parking of motor vehicles is not
1-15     included.
1-16           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
1-17     to a cost on conviction for an offense committed on or after the
1-18     effective date of this Act.   A cost on conviction for an  offense
1-19     committed before the effective date of this Act is covered by the
1-20     law in effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is
1-21     continued in effect for that purpose.  For purposes of this
1-22     section, an offense was committed before the effective date of this
1-23     Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
1-24           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-1           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.