HBA-NMO H.B. 3249 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3249 By: Allen Criminal Jurisprudence 7/22/1999 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE State law prohibits a district or county attorney from accepting a reward or the promise of reward for prosecuting a case as required by law. The Texas Department of Human Services' (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigates cases of alleged fraud in welfare programs, including food stamps. OIG, if it determines that a recipient has violated the law, presents the facts of a case to the respective local prosecutorial attorney's office. The United States Department of Agriculture provides the state with funds to defray a portion of the costs incurred by the prosecutorial attorney's office in prosecuting the case. DHS, in turn, acts as a conduit of these funds to the prosecutorial attorney. H.B. 3249 provides that Section 41.004, Penal Code, prohibiting a prosecutorial attorney from accepting reward or promise thereof to prosecute a case, does not apply to funds provided by the U.S. government through the Texas Department of Human Services to local prosecutorial offices for the purpose of assisting to defray the costs of prosecutions. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 41.004, Government Code, to provide that this section does not apply to funds provided by the U.S. government through the Texas Department of Human Services to local prosecutorial offices for the purpose of assisting to defray the costs of prosecutions. This section prohibits a district or county attorney from accepting a reward or the promise thereof for prosecuting a case as required by law. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 3. Emergency clause.