HBA-DMH C.S.S.B. 1171 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 1171
By: Madla
County Affairs
4/25/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, counties are not allowed to charge more than a five percent fee
to cover costs associated with processing credit card payments for fines,
court costs, and other charges. However, a credit card company may charge a
fee to use its services.  As a result, any fee charged by the company in
excess of five percent must be absorbed by the county.  C.S.S.B. 1171
authorizes a commissioners court of a county to charge a fee equal to the
amount the county is charged for using a credit card company's services. 

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

C.S.S.B. 1171 amends the Local Government Code to provide that the
commissioners court of a county may authorize a county or precinct officer
to collect, in addition to the processing fee the commissioners court is
required to set for a county to collect from a person making a payment by
credit card, an amount equal to the amount of any transaction fee charged
to the county by a vendor providing services in connection with payments
made by credit card. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001. 

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.S.B. 1171 differs from the original bill by removing the provision that
the bill applies only to a county with a population of one million or more.