BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1513

By: Lewis

Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties contend that the revenue currently derived from district and county records archiving and management fees is insufficient to cover the archival of records in a timely manner. These interested parties assert that, by raising the caps on such fees, more old and deteriorating records can be archived, allowing courts to expand the automation of records, process old records, and load them onto their computer systems. H.B. 1513 seeks to provide for this preservation by increasing the permissible range of the district and county courts records archive fees and the records management and preservation fees.

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

H.B. 1513 amends the Government Code to raise from $5 to $10 the cap on the district court records archive fee for the filing of a suit in a district court in the county that a district court clerk is required to collect if the county's commissioners court adopts the fee as part of the county's annual budget.

H.B. 1513 amends the Local Government Code to raise from $5 to $10 the cap on the records management and preservation fee that a county clerk is authorized to set and collect. The bill raises from $5 to $10 the cap on the records archive fee that a county clerk is required to collect if the county's commissioners court adopts the fee as part of the county's annual budget.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2013.