78R12572 GWK-D


By:  Rangel, Canales, Garza                                       H.B. No. 3376

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3376:                                   

By:  Chavez                                                   C.S.H.B. No. 3376



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the payment of court costs in certain asset forfeiture 
cases.   
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Article 59.05(f), Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended to read as follows:
	(f)(1)  On forfeiture to the state of an amount greater than 
$2,500, the clerk of the court in which the forfeiture proceeding 
was held is entitled to court costs in that proceeding as in other 
civil proceedings unless the forfeiture violates federal 
requirements for multijurisdictional task force cases authorized 
under Chapter 362, Local Government Code.  
		(2)  Regardless of the amount subject to forfeiture, on 
the filing of a forfeiture proceeding described by this 
subdivision, the clerk of the court is entitled to court costs as in 
other civil proceedings.  This subdivision applies only to a 
forfeiture proceeding:
			(A)  arising from a seizure at a federal 
checkpoint; and            
			(B)  filed in a county adjacent to the county in 
which the seizure occurred, with both counties being in the same 
judicial district.
		(3)  The procedure for collecting [the] costs under 
Subdivision (1) is the procedure established under Subsections (a) 
and (c), Article 59.06.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.