1-1 By: Martinez Fischer (Senate Sponsor - West) H.B. No. 2410
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 2001;
1-3 May 11, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Jurisprudence; May 11, 2001, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 11, 2001, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the authority of a justice or municipal court to waive
1-9 payment of fines and costs imposed on certain indigent defendants.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Article 43.03(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-12 amended to read as follows:
1-13 (a) If a defendant is sentenced to pay a fine or costs or
1-14 both and the defendant [he] defaults in payment, the court after a
1-15 hearing under Subsection (d) of this article may order the
1-16 defendant [him] confined in jail until discharged as provided by
1-17 law, [or] may order the defendant [him] to discharge the fines and
1-18 costs in any other manner provided by Article 43.09 of this code,
1-19 or may waive payment of the fines and costs as provided by Article
1-20 43.091. A certified copy of the judgment, sentence, and order is
1-21 sufficient to authorize confinement under this subsection.
1-22 SECTION 2. Chapter 43, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended
1-23 by adding Article 43.091 to read as follows:
1-24 Art. 43.091. WAIVER OF PAYMENT OF FINES AND COSTS FOR
1-25 INDIGENT DEFENDANTS IN JUSTICE OR MUNICIPAL COURT. A municipal
1-26 court, regardless of whether the court is a court of record, or a
1-27 justice court may waive payment of a fine or cost imposed on a
1-28 defendant who defaults in payment if the court determines that:
1-29 (1) the defendant is indigent; and
1-30 (2) each alternative method of discharging the fine or
1-31 cost under Article 43.09 would impose an undue hardship on the
1-32 defendant.
1-33 SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
1-34 fine or cost imposed by a justice or municipal court on conviction
1-35 of an offense, regardless of whether the offense was committed
1-36 before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
1-37 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
1-38 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
1-39 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
1-40 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
1-41 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
1-42 * * * * *