C.S.H.B. 3167 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


C.S.H.B. 3167
By: Goolsby
Judicial Affairs
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Over the past few years, the Legislature has created new filing fees.
However, these fees have been primarily for dedicated purposes and not for
the general support of the district clerks' offices, whose costs have
risen considerably.   

This is especially true in multi-plaintiff cases.  During the 76th
Legislature, the Office of Court Administration ("OCA") studied this issue
and recommended that the filing fees in multi-plaintiff cases be increased
to cover the extra expenses associated with these cases.  C.S.H.B. 3167
creates a sliding scale of fees for lawsuits involving more than 10
plaintiffs.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or
institution. 

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3167 amends the Government Code to remove the fee for filing a
petition for preconviction writ of habeas corpus.  For cases involving
more than 10 plaintiffs, the bill creates the following filing fee
schedule: 

$75 for 11-25 plaintiffs;
$100 for 26-100 plaintiffs
$125 for 101-500 plaintiffs
$150 for 501-1,000 plaintiffs
$200 for a suit with more than 1,000 plaintiffs

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2003. 


COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

The original raised the filing fee collected by the district clerk from
$45 to $60.  The substitute keeps this fee at $45.   

The substitute, however, does retain the original's provision raising
filing fees in cases with more than 10 plaintiffs.  The sliding scale
remains the same as the original, except that the substitute raises the
fee for a suit with more than 1,000 plaintiffs to $200.