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.