Bill Text: TX HB1021 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a prohibition on the imposition of court costs and filing or other fees on certain indigent defendants and plaintiffs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-12 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB1021 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB1021-Introduced.html
86R3114 SRS-D | ||
By: Moody | H.B. No. 1021 |
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relating to a prohibition on the imposition of court costs and | ||
filing or other fees on certain indigent defendants and plaintiffs. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Subtitle I, Title 2, Government Code, is amended | ||
by adding Chapter 104 to read as follows: | ||
CHAPTER 104. COURT COSTS AND FILING AND OTHER FEES IN CIVIL AND | ||
CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS | ||
Sec. 104.001. WAIVING COURT COSTS AND FILING AND OTHER FEES | ||
FOR INDIGENTS. (a) In this section, "indigent" means an individual | ||
whose household income is at or below 125 percent of the federal | ||
poverty guidelines as determined by the United States Department of | ||
Health and Human Services. | ||
(b) Notwithstanding Section 101.001, 102.001, 103.001, or | ||
any other law, a judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of | ||
criminal appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal | ||
district court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county | ||
court, a justice court, or a municipal court, in a civil or criminal | ||
proceeding before the court, who finds that the defendant or | ||
plaintiff in the proceeding is indigent shall waive all court | ||
costs, including costs on conviction, and all filing fees and other | ||
fees imposed by law on the indigent defendant or plaintiff. | ||
(c) This section does not apply to a proceeding filed by the | ||
state's Title IV-D agency for an individual to whom the agency is | ||
providing services authorized under Chapter 231, Family Code. | ||
SECTION 2. Chapter 104, Government Code, as added by this | ||
Act, applies only to court costs and filing and other fees imposed | ||
in a civil or criminal proceeding commenced on or after the | ||
effective date of this Act. Court costs and filing and other fees | ||
imposed in a civil or criminal proceeding commenced before the | ||
effective date of this Act are governed by the law in effect on the | ||
date the proceeding was commenced, and the former law is continued | ||
in effect for that purpose. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |