HBA-DMD C.S.H.B. 424 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 424
By: Turner, Bob
Criminal Jurisprudence
3/26/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, a capital murder trial in Texas costs on average between
$200,000 and $300,000 to prosecute.  In rural counties, a capital murder
trial and the automatic appeal that a conviction triggers can put
significant strain on the county budget and perhaps even lead a county to
seek a lesser charge against the defendant despite the prosecutor's belief
that a charge of capital murder is warranted. C.S.H.B. 424 creates a fund
that would help eligible counties pay for extraordinary costs incurred as
the result of a capital murder trial and the ensuing appeal. This bill
authorizes the Criminal Justice Division of the Governor's Office to adopt
a budget and rules for the distribution of money. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Criminal Justice Division of the
Governor's Office in SECTION 1 (Article 102.085, Code of Criminal
Procedure) of this bill. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Chapter 102, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding
Subchapter D, as follows: 

SUBCHAPTER D.  COURT COSTS FOR EXTRAORDINARY COSTS OF 
PROSECUTION FUND

Art. 102.081.  COSTS.  Requires a defendant convicted of a felony to pay a
court cost of $5, and a defendant convicted of a misdemeanor to pay a court
cost of $1, unless convicted under Subtitle C, Title 7, Transportation Code
(Rules of the Road), if the person is convicted under a section that
regulates pedestrians and the parking of motor vehicles, or is convicted of
a misdemeanor in a municipal court or municipal court of record.  Requires
the court clerk to collect the court cost at the time of sentencing unless
an appeal or motion for a new trial is filed, in which event the court
clerk is required to collect the court cost upon finalization of the
conviction.  Authorizes the court to waive the court cost if it determines
the defendant is indigent. 

Art. 102.082.  RECORD OF COLLECTION.  Requires the court clerk collecting
court costs to maintain separate records of the funds collected as costs
under this subchapter and to deposit the funds in the county treasury.   

Art. 102.083.  REPORTS REQUIRED.  Requires the court clerk collecting the
court costs to file the report required under Article 103.005 (Report
Required) unless there have been no funds collected, in which case the
report is required to be filed in the regular manner stating that no funds
were collected. 

Art. 102.084.  TRANSFER OF FUNDS TO COMPTROLLER.  (a)  Authorizes the
custodian of the county treasury to deposit the funds that have been
collected into an interest-bearing account and requires the custodian to
maintain records of the amount of funds deposited. Requires the custodian
to submit to the comptroller funds that were collected during the preceding
quarter on or before the last day of the month that follows each quarter.
 
(b)  Authorizes a county treasury to retain 10 percent of the funds
collected as a service fee as well as all interest accrued on the funds
providing that the custodian maintains accurate records and remits the
funds to the comptroller within the time period specified in Subsection
(a).  

Art. 102.085.  EXTRAORDINARY COSTS OF PROSECUTION FUND.  (a)  Requires the
comptroller to deposit the money the comptroller receives under this
subchapter in the general revenue fund in an account to be known as the
extraordinary costs of prosecution fund and requires the legislature to
appropriate money from the fund only to the criminal justice division of
the governor's office (division) and requires the division to distribute
money received under this subsection as this article provides. 

(b)  Establishes that a county is eligible to apply to the division for a
distribution of money under this article if, during the previous fiscal
year, the county's total amount of expenditures exceeded the total amount
of funds received by the county from all sources and the county incurred
expenses for the investigation or prosecution of an offense under Section
19.03, Penal Code (Capital Murder), or if the county's total amount of
funds received from all sources exceeded the total amount of expenditures
and the county incurred expenses for the investigation or prosecution of an
offense under Section 19.03, Penal Code, for which the costs have exceeded
five percent of the county's surplus revenue. 

(c)  Establishes that the commissioners court must submit a financial
statement of the county verifying the county's previous fiscal years total
amount of funds received from all sources, the total amount of
expenditures, and the total amount incurred for the investigation or
prosecution of an offense under Section 19.03, Penal Code (Capital Murder),
when submitting an application referred to under Subsection (b). 

(d)  Authorizes the division to distribute money under this article only to
an eligible county for the reimbursement of expenses the county incurred
during the fiscal year for which the application has been made.  Prohibits
the amount reimbursed to the county from being greater than five percent of
the difference between the funds received and expenditures during the
fiscal year for which the application is made. 

(e) Requires the division, for each fiscal year, to distribute at least 50
percent of the money distributed during that year to eligible counties with
a population of less than 50,000 except that if the total distributions
applied for by those counties is less than 50 percent of the money
distributed during that year, the division is only required to distribute
to those counties the amount of money for which applications have been
made.  
(f) Authorizes the division to adopt a budget and rules for the
distribution of money under this article. 

Art. 102.086.  AUDIT.  Establishes that all money collected under this
subchapter is subject to an audit by the comptroller and all money
distributed to a county under this subchapter and the county's expenditure
of it are subject to an audit by the state auditor. 

SECTION 2.  (a)  Makes application of this Act prospective.

(b)  Authorizes the commissioners court to apply to the criminal justice
division of the governor's office for a distribution of money, as provided
by Article 102.085, Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, on or
after January 1, 2000. 

SECTION 3.  Effective date:  September 1, 1999.

SECTION 4.  Emergency clause.


 
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. differs from the original bill in SECTION 1 (Article 102.085, Code
of Criminal Procedure) by specifying that a county is eligible to apply,
rather than a county with a population of less than 50,000 is eligible to
apply, to the division for a distribution of money under this article,
provided that the during preceding fiscal year the county has met certain
conditions. 

C.S.H.B. differs from the original bill in SECTION 1 (Article 102.085, Code
of Criminal Procedure) by creating new text for Subsection (e) and
redesignating the text of Subsection (e) in the original to new Subsection
(f) in the substitute. Subsection (e) requires the division to distribute,
for each fiscal year, at least 50 percent of the money distributed during
that year, to eligible counties with a population of less than 50,000 with
certain exceptions.  Subsection (f) authorizes the division to adopt a
budget and rules for the distribution of money.