79R564 PEP-D

By:  Casteel                                                      H.B. No. 375



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the collection of fines and costs imposed in a criminal 
case following a defendant's default in payment.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Article 43.03(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended to read as follows:
	(a)  If a defendant is sentenced to pay a fine or costs or 
both and the defendant defaults in payment, the court may order the 
fine and costs collected by execution against the defendant's 
property in the same manner as a judgment in a civil suit or, after a 
hearing under Subsection (d), [of this article] may order the 
defendant confined in jail until discharged as provided by law, may 
order the defendant to discharge the fines and costs in any other 
manner provided by Article 43.09 [of this code], or may waive 
payment of the fines and costs as provided by Article 43.091.  A 
certified copy of the judgment, sentence, and order is sufficient 
to authorize confinement under this subsection.
	SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only 
to a defendant who is sentenced to pay a fine or costs for an offense 
committed on or after the effective date of this Act.  A defendant 
who is sentenced to pay a fine or costs for an offense committed 
before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in 
effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is 
continued in effect for that purpose.  For purposes of this 
subsection, an offense was committed before the effective date of 
this Act if any element of the offense was committed before that 
date.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.