1-1     By:  Corte (Senate Sponsor - Nelson)                  H.B. No. 2968
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 1999;
 1-3     May 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
 1-4     Justice; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the fee imposed on certain criminal convictions for
 1-9     records management and preservation services.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Article 102.005(f), Code of Criminal Procedure,
1-12     is amended to read as follows:
1-13           (f)  A defendant convicted of an offense in a county court, a
1-14     county court at law, or a district court shall pay a fee of $20
1-15     [$10] for records management and preservation services performed by
1-16     the county as required by Chapter 203, Local  Government Code.  The
1-17     fee shall be collected and distributed by the clerk of the court in
1-18     the same manner as fees are collected and distributed under
1-19     Section 51.317(c), Government Code.  The fee received by a county
1-20     shall be placed in a special fund to be called the records
1-21     management and preservation fund.  The fee shall be used only for
1-22     records management and preservation purposes in the county as
1-23     required by Chapter 203, Local Government Code.  No expenditures
1-24     may be made from this fund without prior approval of the
1-25     commissioners court.
1-26           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
1-27     to a defendant convicted of an offense committed on or after the
1-28     effective date of this Act.  A defendant convicted of an offense
1-29     committed before the effective date of this Act is covered by the
1-30     law in effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is
1-31     continued in effect for that purpose.  For purposes of this
1-32     section, an offense was committed before the effective date of this
1-33     Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
1-34           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-35           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-36     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-37     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-38     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-39     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-40                                  * * * * *