HBA-RBT C.S.S.B. 116 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 116
By: Bivins
Criminal Jurisprudence
4/12/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, in Texas there are approximately 85 school district police
departments. Many of these departments issue Class C citations for offenses
that occur on school grounds. The citations are either filed in municipal
or justice of the peace courts. The fine proceeds are deposited into the
municipality or county general funds.  School districts are not receiving
any of the fine proceeds to offset the expense incurred by the districts to
employ peace officers to work in the schools (or the cost of overtime that
may be incurred by the officers appearing in court). While a municipal or
county court does incur some cost in collecting a fine, the revenue
generated by citations issued by a school district police department is
largely a windfall for the city or county. C.S.S.B.116 requires the revenue
generated by Class C citations issued by peace officers commissioned by a
school district to be equally dispersed between the school district and the
municipality or county that collects the fine. 

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 Chapter 45, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding
Article 45.57, as follows: 

Art.  45.57.  DISPOSITION OF FINES COLLECTED FROM PERSONS ARRESTED OR
ISSUED CITATIONS BY SCHOOL DISTRICT PEACE OFFICER.  Provides that this
article applies only to the fine imposed on a person who is convicted of a
Class C misdemeanor that occurs on the property of a school district and if
the person was arrested or was issued a citation for the offense by a
school district peace officer.  Requires the officer collecting the fine
from the person to remit an amount equal to 50 percent of the fine to the
school district that employed the school district peace officer who
arrested or issued the citation to the person.  Provides that this article
prevails over Articles 45.06 (Fines and Special Expenses) and 103.004
(Disposition of Collected Money).  Defines "school district" and "school
district peace officer." 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.
            Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 1 (proposed Article 45.57,
Code of Criminal Procedure) by deleting the provision specifying that this
article applied to a person convicted of an offense occurring at the
location of a function, event, or activity sponsored by a school district.