2005 Texas Government Code CHAPTER 2107. COLLECTION OF DELINQUENT OBLIGATIONS TO STATE

GOVERNMENT CODE

CHAPTER 2107. COLLECTION OF DELINQUENT OBLIGATIONS TO STATE


	§ 2107.001. DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:                                  
		(1)  "Obligation" includes a debt, judgment, claim, 
account, fee, fine, tax, penalty, interest, loan, charge, or grant.
		(2)  "State agency" means an agency, board, commission, 
institution, or other unit of state government.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.           


	§ 2107.002. AGENCY COLLECTION PROCESS.  (a) The attorney 
general shall adopt uniform guidelines for the process by which a 
state agency collects delinquent obligations owed to the agency.
	(b)  A state agency that collects delinquent obligations 
owed to the agency shall establish procedures by rule for 
collecting a delinquent obligation and a reasonable period for 
collection.  The rules must conform to the guidelines established 
by the attorney general.
	(c)  Until a state agency adopts rules under this section, 
the attorney general by rule may establish collection procedures 
for the agency, including the period for collecting a delinquent 
obligation.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.           


	§ 2107.003. COLLECTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL OR OUTSIDE 
AGENT.  (a) Except as provided by Subsection (c), a state agency 
shall request the attorney general to collect an obligation before 
the agency may employ, retain, or contract with a person other than 
a full-time employee of the state agency to collect the obligation.
	(b)  The attorney general may authorize the requesting state 
agency to employ, retain, or contract with a person other than a 
full-time employee of the agency to collect an obligation that the 
attorney general cannot collect.
	(c)  The comptroller may employ, retain, or contract with a 
person other than a full-time state employee to collect delinquent 
obligations that are owed the comptroller in the comptroller's 
official capacity, are not collected through normal collection 
procedures, and do not meet the guidelines adopted for collection 
by the attorney general.  A proposed contract under this subsection 
shall be reviewed by the attorney general and may include a 
collection fee computed on the amounts collected under the 
contract.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.  
Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 653, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 
1997.


	§ 2107.004. NOTICE TO ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR FURTHER 
COLLECTION.  Except as provided by Section 2107.003(c), not later 
than the 120th day after the date an obligation becomes delinquent 
or past due or the 30th day after the comptroller determines that 
its efforts to collect an obligation owed the agency have failed, 
the agency shall report the uncollected and delinquent obligation 
to the attorney general for further collection efforts.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.  
Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 653, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 
1997;  Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 470, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.


	§ 2107.005. REPORTS TO ATTORNEY GENERAL.  The attorney 
general may develop specific reporting procedures for each state 
agency and may adopt rules relating to the reports, including rules 
specifying when an agency must report and what information must be 
included in the report.  Each state agency shall file an annual debt 
report with the attorney general not later than the 90th day after 
the end of each fiscal year.  The report shall contain the 
information required by rules adopted under this section by the 
attorney general.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.  
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 470, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 
1999.


	§ 2107.006. ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS.  In any proceeding 
under this chapter or other law in which the state seeks to collect 
or recover a delinquent obligation or damages, the attorney general 
may recover reasonable attorney fees, investigative costs, and 
court costs incurred on behalf of the state in the proceeding in the 
same manner as provided by general law for a private litigant.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.           


	§ 2107.007. RETENTION OF COLLECTION FEE.  (a) An 
obligation reported to the attorney general for collection under 
this chapter is subject to a collection fee for the use and benefit 
of the attorney general as provided by legislative appropriation.
	(b)  The attorney general may retain the amount of the 
collection fee from the amount of the obligation collected.
	(c)  A collection fee may not be retained from amounts 
collected for the unemployment compensation fund established under 
Subchapter B, Chapter 203, Labor Code.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.  
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 62, § 8.18, eff. Sept. 1, 
1999.


	§ 2107.008. PAYMENTS TO DEBTORS OR DELINQUENTS 
PROHIBITED.  (a) Except as provided by this section, a state 
agency, as a ministerial duty, may not use funds in or outside of 
the state treasury to pay a person if Section 403.055 prohibits the 
comptroller from issuing a warrant or initiating an electronic 
funds transfer to the person.
	(b)  Except as provided by this section, a state agency may 
refuse to use funds in or outside of the state treasury to pay a 
person if the person is indebted to the state or has a tax 
delinquency and the agency is responsible for collecting that 
indebtedness or delinquency.  This subsection applies only if 
Section 403.055 does not prohibit the comptroller from issuing a 
warrant or initiating an electronic funds transfer to the person.
	(c)  A state agency may not pay the assignee of a person that 
the agency may not pay under Subsection (a) if Section 403.055 
prohibits the comptroller from issuing a warrant or initiating an 
electronic funds transfer to the assignee.  The agency may refuse to 
pay the assignee of a person that the agency may refuse to pay under 
Subsection (b) if the assignment became effective after the person 
became indebted to the state or incurred a tax delinquency.
	(d)  A state agency that Subsection (a) prohibits from making 
a payment to a person also is prohibited from paying any part of 
that payment to:
		(1)  the person's estate;                                                     
		(2)  the distributees of the person's estate;  or                             
		(3)  the person's surviving spouse.                                           
	(e)  A state agency that may refuse to make a payment to a 
person under Subsection (b) also may refuse to make any part of that 
payment to:
		(1)  the person's estate;                                                     
		(2)  the distributees of the person's estate;  or                             
		(3)  the person's surviving spouse.                                           
	(f)  This section neither prohibits a state agency from 
paying nor authorizes a state agency to refuse to pay a person or 
the person's assignee if the agency determines that the person is 
complying with an installment payment agreement or similar 
agreement between the agency and that person to pay or eliminate the 
debt or delinquency.
	(g)  The comptroller may not reimburse a state agency for a 
payment that the comptroller determines was made in violation of 
Subsection (a).
	(h)  Subsection (b) does not authorize a state agency to 
refuse to pay:      
		(1)  the compensation of a state officer or employee;  
or                   
		(2)  the remuneration of an individual if the 
remuneration is being paid by a private person through the agency.
	(i)  Subsection (b) does not authorize a state agency to 
refuse to make a payment if:
		(1)  the payment would be made in whole or in part with 
money paid to the state by the United States;  and
		(2)  the agency determines that federal law:                                  
			(A)  requires the payment to be made;  or                                    
			(B)  conditions the state's receipt of the money 
on the payment being made.
	(j)  A state agency may not refuse to make a payment under 
Subsection (b) before the agency has provided the person with an 
opportunity to exercise any due process or other constitutional or 
statutory protection that must be accommodated before the agency or 
the state may begin a collection action or procedure.
	(k)  Subsection (a) does not prohibit a state agency from 
making a payment if each state agency that properly reported the 
person to the comptroller under Section 403.055(f) consents to the 
payment.
	(l)  This section does not apply to the extent that Section 
57.482, Education Code, applies.
	(m)  This section applies to a payment only if the 
comptroller is not responsible under Section 404.046, 404.069, or 
2103.003 for issuing a warrant or initiating an electronic funds 
transfer to make the payment.
	(n)  In this section:                                                          
		(1)  "Compensation," "state officer or employee," and 
"tax delinquency" have the meanings assigned by Section 403.055.
		(2)  "State agency" has the meaning assigned by Section 
403.055, notwithstanding Section 2107.001.

Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1467, § 1.29, eff. Oct. 1, 
1999.  Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1158, § 44, eff. June 
15, 2001.