By: Phillips H.B. No. 4109
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the collection of money by certain prosecuting
attorneys.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 41.005, Government Code, is amended as
follows:
Sec. 41.005. COLLECTION OF MONEY. (a) Not later than the
30th day after the date on which a district attorney, criminal
district attorney, or county attorney receives any money collected
for the state or a county, the district or county attorney shall,
after deducting the commissions provided by this section, pay the
money into the treasury of the state or of the county to which it
belongs.
(b) The district attorney, criminal district attorney, or
county attorney may retain a commission from money collected for
the state or a county, including money collected on a bond
forfeiture. The amount of the commission in any one case is 15 10
percent of the total amount of principal and interest first $1,000
collected and five percent of the amount collected over $1,000.
(c) Subsections (a) and (b) of this section also apply to
money realized for the state under the laws governing escheat.
(d) Not later than the last day of August of each year, each
district attorney,
criminal district attorney, and county attorney
shall file in the office of the comptroller or of the county
treasurer, as appropriate the case may be, a sworn account of all
money received by the attorney him by virtue of the attorney's his
office during the preceding year and payable into the state or
county treasury.
(e) A commission retained under this section, including a
commission retained from money collected on a bond forfeiture in
which a district attorney, criminal district attorney, or county
attorney represents the state, shall be deposited in the county
treasury in a special fund to be administered by the district
attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney, as
applicable.
(f) Expenditures from the fund under Subsection (e) shall be
at the sole discretion of the district attorney, criminal district
attorney, or county attorney, as applicable, and may be used only to
defray the salaries and expenses of the prosecutor's office, except
that the district attorney, criminal district attorney, or county
attorney may not supplement the attorney's own salary from the
fund.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2015.