HBA-AMW H.B. 1874 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1874 By: Cook Criminal Jurisprudence 4/8/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law only allows merchants and district and county attorneys to seek prosecution of a person who secures goods with a promissory note that contains insufficient funds (NSF). To attempt to control losses from NSF checks and the bank charges incurred as a result of NSF checks, many merchants employ third party companies to verify checks and to collect the outstanding debt. However, third party companies are not allowed to seek prosecution of a person who writes an NSF check. House Bill 1874 authorizes third parties to seek assistance from prosecutors in the collection of bad checks. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1874 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to provide that a credible person on whose affidavit an information charging an offense of theft or fraud involving a check or sight order authorized to be presented includes, in addition to the holder of the check or sight order, the holder's assignee, agent, or representative or any other person retained by the holder to seek collection of the check or sight order. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect on the 91st day after adjournment.