HBA-KDB H.B. 1988 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1988 By: Hill Criminal Jurisprudence 4/6/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A substantial amount of fees are not collected by the state each year because of the number of traffic tickets that remain uncollected by the state. Under current law, the commissioners court of a county is authorized to contract with a public or private vendor to collect fines, fees, restitution, and other costs. However, there is no limit on the amount of compensation a vendor may receive from the court for providing this service. House Bill 1988 prohibits such a vendor from receiving compensation from a commissioners court that is greater than 30 percent of the fines, fees, restitution, and other costs collected by the vendor. 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 1988 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to prohibit a vendor that has contracted with the commissioners court of a county to collect fines, fees, restitution, and other costs from receiving compensation under the contract in an amount that is greater than 30 percent of the fines, fees, restitution, and other costs collected by the vendor. The bill authorizes the custodian of the county treasury, if a required fine, fee, restitution, or cost is collected by a vendor, to reduce the amount forwarded to the state by a percentage equal to the percentage specified as compensation under the vendor's contract with the commissioners court. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.