By:  Farrar (Senate Sponsor - Gallegos)                           H.B. No. 1905
	(In the Senate - Received from the House May 19, 2003; 
May 20, 2003, read first time and referred to Committee on 
Intergovernmental Relations; May 22, 2003, reported favorably by 
the following vote:  Yeas 3, Nays 0; May 22, 2003, sent to printer.)


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT


relating to the records management and preservation fee collected 
by a district clerk.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 51.317, Government Code, is amended by 
amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections (d) and (e) 
to read as follows:
	(b)  The fees are:                                                             
		(1)  for filing a suit, including an appeal from an 
inferior court and for filing a petition for preconviction writ of 
habeas corpus  $45
		(2)  for filing a cross-action, counterclaim, 
intervention, contempt action, motion for new trial, or third-party 
petition  $15
		(3)  for issuing a citation or other writ or process not 
otherwise provided for, including one copy, when requested at the 
time a suit or action is filed  $8
		(4)  for [the] records management and preservation 
[fund]  $10 [$5].
	(c)  The district clerk, after collecting a fee under 
Subsection (b)(4), shall pay the fee to the county treasurer, or to 
an official who discharges the duties commonly delegated to the 
county treasurer, for deposit as follows:
		(1)  $5 to the county records management and 
preservation fund for records management and preservation, 
including automation, in various county offices; and
		(2)  $5 to the district clerk records management and 
preservation fund for records management and preservation services 
performed by the district clerk after a document is filed in the 
records office of the district clerk [for deposit in the records 
management and preservation fund].
	(d)  A fee deposited in accordance with Subsection (c) may be 
used only to provide funds for specific records management and 
preservation, including for automation purposes, on approval by the 
commissioners court of a budget as provided by Chapter 111, Local 
Government Code.
	(e)  An expenditure from a records management and 
preservation fund must comply with Subchapter C, Chapter 262, Local 
Government Code.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies to a fee that becomes payable under Section 51.317, 
Government Code, as amended by this Act, on or after that date.  A 
fee that became payable before the effective date of this Act is 
governed by the law in effect when the fee became payable, and that 
law is continued in effect for that purpose.



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