HBA-DMH H.B. 2343 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2343
By: Menendez
County Affairs
4/1/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, counties are not allowed to charge more than a five percent fee
to cover costs associated with processing credit card payments for fines,
court cost, and other charges. However, a credit card company may charge a
fee to use its services.  As a result, any fee charged by the company in
excess of five percent must be absorbed by the county.  House Bill 2343
authorizes a commissioners court of a county with a population of one
million or more to charge a fee equal to the amount the county is charged
for using a credit card company's services. 

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 2343 amends the Local Government Code to authorize the
commissioners court of a county with a population of one million or more to
authorize a county or precinct officer to collect, in addition to the
processing fee the commissioners court is required to set for a county to
collect from a person making a payment by credit card, an amount equal to
the amount of any transaction fee charged to the county by a vendor
providing services in connection with payments made by credit card. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.