79R5817 PEP-F

By:  Martinez Fischer                                             H.B. No. 3130



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to certain procedures for the handling of criminal cases 
in justice or municipal court.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Article 15.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended to read as follows:
	Art. 15.18.  ARREST FOR OUT-OF-COUNTY OFFENSE.  (a)  A person 
arrested under a warrant issued in a county other than the one in 
which the person is arrested shall be taken before a magistrate of 
the county where the arrest takes place who shall:
		(1)  take bail, if allowed by law, and immediately 
transmit the bond taken to the court having jurisdiction of the 
offense; or
		(2)  in the case of a person arrested [under warrant] 
for an offense punishable by fine only, with the approval of the 
judge or justice who issued the warrant, accept a written plea of 
guilty or nolo contendere, set a fine, determine costs, accept 
payment of the fine and costs, give credit for time served, 
determine indigency, and enter a final judgment in the case [or, on 
satisfaction of the judgment, discharge the defendant, as the case 
may indicate].
	(b)  Before the 11th business day after the date a magistrate 
accepts a written plea of guilty or nolo contendere in a case under 
Subsection (a)(2), the magistrate shall transmit to the court 
having jurisdiction of the offense:
		(1)  the written plea;                                                        
		(2)  the judgment and [any] orders entered in the case; 
and
		(3)  any fine or costs collected in the case.                                 
	(c)  This article does not apply to a capias pro fine warrant 
issued under Article 45.045.
	SECTION 2.  Article 43.091, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
transferred to Subchapter B, Chapter 45, Code of Criminal 
Procedure, is redesignated as Article 45.0491, and is amended to 
read as follows:
	Art. 45.0491 [43.091].  WAIVER OF PAYMENT OF FINES AND COSTS 
FOR INDIGENT DEFENDANTS IN JUSTICE OR MUNICIPAL COURT.  A municipal 
court, regardless of whether the court is a court of record, or a 
justice court may waive payment of a fine or cost imposed on a 
defendant who defaults in payment if the court determines that:
		(1)  the defendant is indigent; and                                           
		(2)  each alternative method of discharging the fine or 
cost under Article 45.049 [43.09] would impose an undue hardship on 
the defendant.
	SECTION 3.  Article 45.046(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, 
is amended to read as follows:
	(a)  When a judgment and sentence have been entered against a 
defendant and the defendant defaults in the discharge of the 
judgment, the judge may order the defendant confined in jail until 
discharged by law if the judge determines that the defendant:
		(1)  [the defendant intentionally] failed to make a 
good faith effort to discharge the fine and costs under Article 
45.049, if the defendant is indigent [judgment]; or
		(2)  failed to make a good faith effort to discharge the 
fine and costs, if the defendant is not indigent.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.