By Martinez Fischer H.B. No. 2410
77R8797 JMC-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the authority of a municipal court to waive payment of
1-3 fines and costs imposed on certain indigent defendants.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Article 43.03(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) If a defendant is sentenced to pay a fine or costs or
1-8 both and the defendant [he] defaults in payment, the court after a
1-9 hearing under Subsection (d) of this article may order the
1-10 defendant [him] confined in jail until discharged as provided by
1-11 law, [or] may order the defendant [him] to discharge the fines and
1-12 costs in any other manner provided by Article 43.09 of this code,
1-13 or may waive payment of the fines and costs as provided by Article
1-14 43.091. A certified copy of the judgment, sentence, and order is
1-15 sufficient to authorize confinement under this subsection.
1-16 SECTION 2. Chapter 43, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended
1-17 by adding Article 43.091 to read as follows:
1-18 Art. 43.091. WAIVER OF PAYMENT OF FINES AND COSTS FOR
1-19 INDIGENT DEFENDANTS IN MUNICIPAL COURT. A municipal court,
1-20 regardless of whether the court is a court of record, may waive
1-21 payment of a fine or cost imposed on a defendant who defaults in
1-22 payment if the court determines that:
1-23 (1) the defendant is indigent; and
1-24 (2) each alternative method of discharging the fine or
2-1 cost under Article 43.09 would impose an undue hardship on the
2-2 defendant.
2-3 SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
2-4 fine or cost imposed by a municipal court on conviction of an
2-5 offense, regardless of whether the offense was committed before,
2-6 on, or after the effective date of this Act.
2-7 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
2-8 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
2-9 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
2-10 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
2-11 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.