By Naishtat                                           H.B. No. 3626
         76R7864 JMC-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the collection of a filing fee by certain statutory
 1-3     probate courts and to the annual salary supplement paid by the
 1-4     state to certain statutory probate  court judges.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 25, Government Code, is
 1-7     amended by adding Sections 25.00211 and 25.00212 to read as
 1-8     follows:
 1-9           Sec. 25.00211.  STATE CONTRIBUTION.  (a)  Beginning on the
1-10     first day of the state fiscal year, the state shall annually
1-11     compensate each county that collects the additional fees under
1-12     Section 51.703 in an amount equal to $40,000 for each statutory
1-13     probate court judge in the county.
1-14           (b)  The amount shall be paid to the county's salary fund in
1-15     equal monthly installments from funds appropriated from the
1-16     judicial fund.
1-17           Sec. 25.00212.  EXCESS CONTRIBUTIONS.  (a)  At the end of
1-18     each state fiscal year the comptroller shall determine the amounts
1-19     deposited in the judicial fund under Section 51.703 and the amounts
1-20     paid to the counties under Section 25.00211.  If the total amount
1-21     paid under Section 51.703 by all counties exceeds the total amount
1-22     paid to counties under Section 25.00211, the state shall remit the
1-23     excess to the counties proportionately based on the percentage of
1-24     the total paid by each county.
 2-1           (b)  The amounts remitted under Subsection (a) shall be paid
 2-2     to the county's general fund to be used only for court-related
 2-3     purposes for the support of the judiciary as provided by Section
 2-4     21.006.
 2-5           SECTION 2.  Subchapter H, Chapter 51, Government Code, is
 2-6     amended by adding Section 51.703 to read as follows:
 2-7           Sec. 51.703.  ADDITIONAL FEES IN CERTAIN STATUTORY PROBATE
 2-8     COURTS.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (f), in addition to
 2-9     all other fees authorized or required by other law, the clerk of a
2-10     statutory probate court shall collect a $40 filing fee in each
2-11     probate, guardianship, mental health, or civil case filed in the
2-12     court to be used for court-related purposes for the support of the
2-13     judiciary.
2-14           (b)  Court fees due under this section shall be collected in
2-15     the same manner as other fees, fines, or costs are collected in the
2-16     case.
2-17           (c)  The clerk shall send the fees collected under this
2-18     section to the comptroller at least as frequently as monthly.  The
2-19     comptroller shall deposit the fees in the judicial fund.
2-20           (d)  Section 51.320 applies to a fee collected under this
2-21     section.
2-22           (e)  This section applies only to fees for a 12-month period
2-23     beginning July 1 in a county in which the commissioners court:
2-24                 (1)  adopts a resolution authorizing the fees under
2-25     this section; and
2-26                 (2)  files the resolution with the comptroller not
2-27     later than June 1 immediately preceding the first 12-month period
 3-1     during which the fees are to be collected.
 3-2           (f)  A resolution under Subsection (e) continues from year to
 3-3     year allowing the county to collect fees under the terms of this
 3-4     section until the resolution is rescinded.
 3-5           (g)  A commissioners court that desires to rescind a
 3-6     resolution adopted under Subsection (e) must submit to the
 3-7     comptroller not later than June 1 preceding the beginning of the
 3-8     first day of the state fiscal year a resolution stating the
 3-9     commissioners court's desire to rescind the resolution.
3-10           (h)  A county that is not eligible to participate under
3-11     Subsection (e) on July 1 of a year but is eligible to participate
3-12     later in the year may submit a resolution meeting the requirements
3-13     of Subsection (e) to the comptroller.  The comptroller shall
3-14     determine the date the county may begin to collect fees under this
3-15     section.  A county that begins to collect fees under this section
3-16     after July 1 is not eligible for a payment by the comptroller under
3-17     Section 25.00211 until the 60th day after the date the comptroller
3-18     determines the county may begin to collect fees under this section.
3-19           (i)  A clerk may not collect a fee under this section and
3-20     under Section 51.701 or 51.702.
3-21           SECTION 3.  The change in law made by Section 2 of this Act
3-22     applies only to filing fees for a case filed on or after the
3-23     effective date of this Act.
3-24           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 4-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 4-2     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 4-3     passage, and it is so enacted.