By Corte                                              H.B. No. 2968
         76R4384 JMC-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the fee imposed on certain criminal convictions for
 1-3     records management and preservation services.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Article 102.005(f), Code of Criminal Procedure,
 1-6     is amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (f)  A defendant convicted of an offense in a county court, a
 1-8     county court at law, or a district court shall pay a fee of $20
 1-9     [$10] for records management and preservation services performed by
1-10     the county as required by Chapter 203, Local  Government Code.  The
1-11     fee shall be collected and distributed by the clerk of the court in
1-12     the same manner as fees are collected and distributed under
1-13     Section 51.317(c), Government Code.  The fee received by a county
1-14     shall be placed in a special fund to be called the records
1-15     management and preservation fund.  The fee shall be used only for
1-16     records management and preservation purposes in the county as
1-17     required by Chapter 203, Local Government Code.  No expenditures
1-18     may be made from this fund without prior approval of the
1-19     commissioners court.
1-20           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
1-21     to a defendant convicted of an offense committed on or after the
1-22     effective date of this Act.  A defendant convicted of an offense
1-23     committed before the effective date of this Act is covered by the
1-24     law in effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is
 2-1     continued in effect for that purpose.  For purposes of this
 2-2     section, an offense was committed before the effective date of this
 2-3     Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
 2-4           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-5           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.