86R3114 SRS-D
 
  By: Moody H.B. No. 1021
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a prohibition on the imposition of court costs and
  filing or other fees on certain indigent defendants and plaintiffs.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subtitle I, Title 2, Government Code, is amended
  by adding Chapter 104 to read as follows:
  CHAPTER 104. COURT COSTS AND FILING AND OTHER FEES IN CIVIL AND
  CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
         Sec. 104.001.  WAIVING COURT COSTS AND FILING AND OTHER FEES
  FOR INDIGENTS. (a) In this section, "indigent" means an individual
  whose household income is at or below 125 percent of the federal
  poverty guidelines as determined by the United States Department of
  Health and Human Services.
         (b)  Notwithstanding Section 101.001, 102.001, 103.001, or
  any other law, a judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of
  criminal appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal
  district court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county
  court, a justice court, or a municipal court, in a civil or criminal
  proceeding before the court, who finds that the defendant or
  plaintiff in the proceeding is indigent shall waive all court
  costs, including costs on conviction, and all filing fees and other
  fees imposed by law on the indigent defendant or plaintiff.
         (c)  This section does not apply to a proceeding filed by the
  state's Title IV-D agency for an individual to whom the agency is
  providing services authorized under Chapter 231, Family Code.
         SECTION 2.  Chapter 104, Government Code, as added by this
  Act, applies only to court costs and filing and other fees imposed
  in a civil or criminal proceeding commenced on or after the
  effective date of this Act. Court costs and filing and other fees
  imposed in a civil or criminal proceeding commenced before the
  effective date of this Act are governed by the law in effect on the
  date the proceeding was commenced, and the former law is continued
  in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.