HBA-SEP H.B. 3247 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3247 By: Hinojosa Criminal Jurisprudence 4/10/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, criminal district attorneys are not specifically authorized to retain a commission, from money collected for the state or a county, to be used to defray the salaries and expenses of the prosecutor's office. As a result, in some jurisdictions criminal district attorneys are not receiving the revenue necessary to attract and retain qualified prosecutors and to pay for additional expenses of the prosecutor's office. House Bill 3247 specifies that a criminal district attorney is authorized to retain a commission from money collected for the state or a county. 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 3247 amends the Government Code to require a criminal district attorney who receives money collected for the state or a county, after deducting the commissions, to pay the money into the treasury of the state or of the county to which it belongs. The bill specifies that the district attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney (attorneys) is authorized to retain a commission of 15 percent of the total amount of principal and interest from money collected for the state or a county including money collected on a bond forfeiture. A commission is required to be deposited in the county treasury in a special fund to be administered by the district attorney or county attorney. Expenditures from the fund are required to be at the sole discretion of the attorneys as applicable and are authorized to be used only to defray the salaries and expenses of the prosecutor's office, except that the attorneys are prohibited from supplementing the attorney's own salary from the fund. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.