HBA-CBW, KDB H.B. 1884 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1884 By: Thompson Judicial Affairs 3/14/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE While costs associated with running a district clerk's office have risen considerably in the last decade, basic filing fees, which provide some of the funding for the district clerk's office, have not. The legislature has increased and created new filing fees over the past ten years, but these fees have been primarily for dedicated purposes and not for the support of district clerk's offices. During the 76th Legislative interim, the Office of Court Administration studied the costs to district clerk's offices associated with multiple plaintiff lawsuits and recommended that the filing fees for multiple plaintiff lawsuits be increased to help cover the added expenses associated with these cases. House Bill 1884 increases the filing fees for lawsuits from $45 to $60 and creates a sliding scale fee for lawsuits involving 11 or more plaintiffs. 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 1884 amends the Government Code to increase from $45 to $60 the fees for filing a suit, including an appeal from an inferior court. The bill removes the provision that refers to the fee for a filing a petition for preconviction writ of habeas corpus. The bill provides that the fees for filing a suit, including an appeal from an inferior court, are: _$75, for a suit with at least 11 but not more than 25 plaintiffs; _$100, for a suit with at least 26 but not more than 100 plaintiffs; _$125, for a suit with at least 101 but not more than 500 plaintiffs; _$150, for a suit with at least 501 but not more than 1,000 plaintiffs; and _$175, for a suit with more than 1,000 plaintiffs. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.