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                                  * * * * *