HBA-SEP H.B. 1807 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1807 By: Geren Criminal Jurisprudence 4/1/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The 76th Legislature, in an effort to enable courts to adjudicate more cases in a timely manner, increased the amount, from $50 to $100, of credit a defendant receives for performing community service in lieu of paying a fine. Many smaller justice courts with shorter dockets make efficient use of the community service option. Therefore, the $100 daily rate of discharge effectively halved the amount of productive community service performed. Before the rate change, the credit level gave an average hourly rate of $6.25 per hour which exceeds the minimum wage and is comparable to pay for similar work in the community. House Bill 1807 provides a court discretion to discharge not less than $50 or more than $100 of fines or costs for each eight hours of community service performed. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 1807 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to provide that a defendant who is unable to pay a fine or costs is considered to have discharged, as specified by the court, not less than $50 or more than $100 of fines or costs for each eight hours of community service performed. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.