AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the assessment of costs or fees by a county or
 1-2     municipality related to the seizure, acceptance, impoundment, or
 1-3     destruction of a dangerous dog.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subsection (d), Section 822.042, Health and
 1-6     Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (d)  The owner shall pay any cost or fee assessed by the
 1-8     municipality or county related to the seizure, acceptance,
 1-9     impoundment, or [and] destruction of the dog.  The governing body
1-10     of the municipality or county may prescribe the amount of the fees.
1-11           SECTION 2.  Section 822.0422, Health and Safety Code, is
1-12     amended by amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections
1-13     (d), (e), and (f) to read as follows:
1-14           (b)  A person may report an incident described by Section
1-15     822.041(2) to a municipal court, a justice court, or a county
1-16     court.  The owner of the dog shall deliver the dog to the animal
1-17     control authority not later than the fifth day after the date on
1-18     which the owner receives notice that the report has been filed.
1-19     The authority may provide for the impoundment of the dog in secure
1-20     and humane conditions until the court orders the disposition of the
1-21     dog.
1-22           (c)  If the owner fails to deliver the dog as required by
1-23     Subsection (b), the court shall order the animal control authority
1-24     to seize the dog and shall issue a warrant authorizing the seizure.
 2-1     The authority shall seize the dog or order its seizure and shall
 2-2     provide for the impoundment of the dog in secure and humane
 2-3     conditions until the court orders the disposition of the dog.  The
 2-4     owner shall pay any cost incurred in seizing the dog.
 2-5           (d)  The court shall determine, after notice and hearing as
 2-6     provided in Section 822.0423, whether the dog is a dangerous dog.
 2-7           (e)  The court, after determining that the dog is a dangerous
 2-8     dog, may order the animal control authority to continue to impound
 2-9     the dangerous dog in secure and humane conditions until the court
2-10     orders disposition of the dog under Section 822.042 and the dog is
2-11     returned to the owner or destroyed.
2-12           (f)  The owner shall pay a cost or fee assessed under Section
2-13     822.042(d).
2-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-19     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-20     passage, and it is so enacted.
         _______________________________     _______________________________
             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House
               I hereby certify that S.B. No. 221 passed the Senate on
         March 2, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
         the Senate concurred in House amendment on April 30, 1999, by the
         following vote:  Yeas 29, Nays 0.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Secretary of the Senate
               I hereby certify that S.B. No. 221 passed the House, with
         amendment, on April 23, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 141,
         Nays 0, two present not voting.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House
         Approved:
         _______________________________
                     Date
         _______________________________
                   Governor