1-1     By:  Cain                                             S.B. No. 1518
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
 1-4     April 27, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 3,
 1-5     Nays 0; April 27, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the collection of a filing fee by certain statutory
 1-9     probate courts and to the annual salary supplement paid by the
1-10     state to certain statutory probate court judges.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 25, Government Code, is
1-13     amended by adding Sections 25.00211 and 25.00212 to read as
1-14     follows:
1-15           Sec. 25.00211.  STATE CONTRIBUTION.  (a)  Beginning on the
1-16     first day of the state fiscal year, the state shall annually
1-17     compensate each county that collects the additional fees under
1-18     Section 51.703 in an amount equal to $40,000 for each statutory
1-19     probate court judge in the county.
1-20           (b)  The amount shall be paid to the county's salary fund in
1-21     equal monthly installments from funds appropriated from the
1-22     judicial fund.
1-23           Sec. 25.00212.  EXCESS CONTRIBUTIONS.  (a)  At the end of
1-24     each state fiscal year the comptroller shall determine the amounts
1-25     deposited in the judicial fund under Section 51.703 and the amounts
1-26     paid to the counties under Section 25.00211.  If the total amount
1-27     paid under Section 51.703 by all counties exceeds the total amount
1-28     paid to counties under Section 25.00211, the state shall remit the
1-29     excess to the counties proportionately based on the percentage of
1-30     the total paid by each county.
1-31           (b)  The amounts remitted under Subsection (a) shall be paid
1-32     to the county's general fund to be used only for court-related
1-33     purposes for the support of the judiciary as provided by Section
1-34     21.006.
1-35           SECTION 2.  Subchapter H, Chapter 51, Government Code, is
1-36     amended by adding Section 51.703 to read as follows:
1-37           Sec. 51.703.  ADDITIONAL FEES IN CERTAIN STATUTORY PROBATE
1-38     COURTS.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (f), in addition to
1-39     all other fees authorized or required by other law, the clerk of a
1-40     statutory probate court shall collect a $40 filing fee in each
1-41     probate, guardianship, mental health, or civil case filed in the
1-42     court to be used for court-related purposes for the support of the
1-43     judiciary.
1-44           (b)  Court fees due under this section shall be collected in
1-45     the same manner as other fees, fines, or costs are collected in the
1-46     case.
1-47           (c)  The clerk shall send the fees collected under this
1-48     section to the comptroller at least as frequently as monthly.  The
1-49     comptroller shall deposit the fees in the judicial fund.
1-50           (d)  Section 51.320 applies to a fee collected under this
1-51     section.
1-52           (e)  This section applies only to fees for a 12-month period
1-53     beginning July 1 in a county in which the commissioners court:
1-54                 (1)  adopts a resolution authorizing the fees under
1-55     this section; and
1-56                 (2)  files the resolution with the comptroller not
1-57     later than June 1 immediately preceding the first 12-month period
1-58     during which the fees are to be collected.
1-59           (f)  A resolution under Subsection (e) continues from year to
1-60     year allowing the county to collect fees under the terms of this
1-61     section until the resolution is rescinded.
1-62           (g)  A commissioners court that desires to rescind a
1-63     resolution adopted under Subsection (e) must submit to the
1-64     comptroller not later than June 1 preceding the beginning of the
 2-1     first day of the state fiscal year a resolution stating the
 2-2     commissioners court's desire to rescind the resolution.
 2-3           (h)  A county that is not eligible to participate under
 2-4     Subsection (e) on July 1 of a year but is eligible to participate
 2-5     later in the year may submit a resolution meeting the requirements
 2-6     of Subsection (e) to the comptroller.  The comptroller shall
 2-7     determine the date the county may begin to collect fees under this
 2-8     section.  A county that begins to collect fees under this section
 2-9     after July 1 is not eligible for a payment by the comptroller under
2-10     Section 25.00211 until the 60th day after the date the comptroller
2-11     determines the county may begin to collect fees under this section.
2-12           (i)  A clerk may not collect a fee under this section and
2-13     under Section 51.701 or 51.702.
2-14           SECTION 3.  The change in law made by Section 2 of this Act
2-15     applies only to filing fees for a case filed on or after the
2-16     effective date of this Act.
2-17           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-22     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-23     passage, and it is so enacted.
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