This webpage contains resources to help courts prepare local forms and handouts that will help defendants understand their rights and responsibilities, as well as the court’s procedures. This is a work in progress. We hope that courts will submit copies of their materials on these issues by emailing them to tmcec@tmcec.com. We will then post them on the webpage for other courts to review and adapt for local use.
CAVEAT: The following documents are intended to serve as only as examples and are published with the intention that TMCEC is not engaged in rendering legal or other professional advice. All users must be responsible for their own legal drafting. Legal drafting should be accompanied by legal advice and direction from the city attorney. TMCEC and its employees do not warrant, either expressly or implicitly, that the documents below are legally correct or that the information therein has not been subject to change, amendment, reversal, or revision.
Recent Legislation
86th Legislative Session (2019):
- S.B. 346 (Omnibus Court Costs Bill that renames, reallocates, and changes values)
- H.B. 2048 (repeals the Driver Responsibility Program, changes amount and allocation of State Traffic Fine)
85th Legislative Session (2017):
- H.B. 351/S.B. 1913 The Administrative, Civil, and Criminal Consequences of Fines, Fees, and Costs
- Chart: Comparison of Selected Provisions
- H.B. 3167 Program for Improvement of Collection of Court Costs, Fees, and Fines
- S.B. 413 Classification of Certain Court Costs as Uncollectible in Collin County
- S.B. 1911 Self-help Resources on the Internet Website of a State Court and in the Office of the Court Clerk
- S.B. 2053 Distribution of the Consolidated Court Cost
Check Your Practice:
Do your forms and webpages offer information regarding alternatives to full payment or other options for indigent defendants? Below is some exemplary language from a mid-sized court in Texas. This is included in Rules of Court on the court’s website.
Indigence. If a defendant is indigent or otherwise too poor to pay either the appeal bond or the transcript, shehe may file an Affidavit of Indigency with the court and a Motion to Waive Costs within the ten (10) day period to file an appeal bond. A hearing on the motion to waive costs shall then be scheduled by the court.
Inability to Pay Fine. If a defendant does not appeal the court’s decision, but is unable to pay the fine when due, the defendant must appear at the clerk’s office and request their case be set on a show cause docket. If the defendant qualifies, the court may allow the defendant to pay the fine in installments or discharge the fine by performing community service. If community service creates an undue hardship, the judge may enter a finding of indigence and waive fines and fees.
From Our Courts: Forms, Handouts, & Outreach
- Roadmap to Resolution
- Lakeway Municipal Court Flyer: What Do I Do?
- College Station Blog on Amnesty
- Questions for Commitment Hearing
- Shared Solutions/Suggested Practices:
- Kiosk Court: Remote Video-Conference Adjudication
- Mitigation Docket or Compliance Court: Walk-In Court for Order Modification and Uncontested Pleas
- “Safe Haven” Non-arrest Policies
- Understanding the Implications in “Alternative Payment Procedures” for Capias Pro Fines
- Handout/Information for Indigent Defendants
- Using Electronic Means to Improve Compliance
Please submit your forms and handouts to tmcec@tmcec.com and they will be placed here for review by other courts.
TMCEC Resources
- TMCEC Regional Round Table Summary 2020 (Courts share best practices for applying new procedural framework for fines and fees region-to-region)
- Helpful Charts
- Fines, Fees, Costs, Indigence, and Related Issues bench card (The Placemat)
- TMCEC Court Costs Charts
- Comparison of Former and Amended Law: H.B. 351 and S.B. 1913 (85th Legislative Session 2017)
- Forms Book (Chapters 13 and 14)
Chapter 13 INDIGENCE, COMMUNITY SERVICE, JAIL CREDIT & PAYMENT PLANS
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- Admonishment as to Financial Changes
- Application for Time Payment, Extension, Community Service, or Waiver
- Installment Agreement Order
- Schedule of Payments for Installment Agreement
- Community Service Order
- Community Service Time Sheet
- Waiver of Payment of Fine and Costs for Certain Defendants and Children
- Order Waiving Surcharges for Indigent Defendant
- Incarcerated Jail Credit Response Letter
- Defendant’s Motion to Lay Out Fine in Jail
- Defendant’s Refusal to Discharge Fine or Costs by Performing Community Service
Chapter 14 ENFORCEMENT
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- Show Cause Order Prior to Issuing a Capias Pro Fine
- Clerk’s Affidavit for Capias Pro Fine
- Capias Pro Fine
- Order of Commitment
- Bench Book: Checklist 8-3 Indigence
- Clerks Certification Study Guides: See Level I, Post-Trial Procedures, A. Default in Payments (page 11)
- The Municipal Judges Book: Chapter 5 JUDGMENTS, INDIGENCE, AND ENFORCEMENT
- Webinars Related to Indigence (may be accessed on the TMCEC Online Learning Center (OLC))
- The Effects of Ferguson and the Future of Fines and Costs in Texas (11/30/2017)
- Changes for Municipal Courts: 85th Legislative Session (9/7/2017)
- Compliance Strategies When Arrest is Not Best (3/2/2017)
- Community Service (2/9/2017)
- Collection Improvement Program (12/1/2016)
- Writs: Warrants and the Capias Pro Fine (11/3/2016)
- Rise of the Machines II: Indigence Issues and Technology (10/6/2016)
- TMCEC Radio: Morning Coffee – Fines, Fees, Costs, & Indigence (9/29/2016)
- Lessons from Ferguson: What Every Municipal Court Needs to Know (4/7/2016)
- Have You Heard the Buzz: Commitment to the Commitment Order (11/19/2015)
- The Recorder (TMCEC’s Journal)
- Special Edition: Fines, Fees, Costs, & Indigence (October 2016)
- “Debtors’ Prisons” and “Ticket Debt:” The Misleading Rhetoric Revolving Around Criminal Penalties in Texas page 3
- Comparing Courts: Texas is Not Ferguson, Missouri page 6
- Judges Who Do Not Comply with Safeguards in Texas Laws Protecting Indigent Defendants Are Committing Judicial Misconduct page 9
- Misunderstanding “Fine-Only” Misdemeanors page 11
- Distinguishing “Fines” from “Court Costs” page 13
- Making Meaningful Use of the Fine Range page 15
- Defining Indigence page 17
- An Incomplete Picture: State Data and Indigence page 19
- In the Shadow of Bearden, Guidance from Case Law, the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Case for “Show-Cause” Hearings Prior to Issuing a Capias Pro Fine page 21
- “Safe Harbor” Policies: Why Arrest Is Not Always the Best page 26
- In Light of Tate: What “Alternative Means” Means page 28
- Setting the Record Straight: Class C Misdemeanors, the Right to Counsel, and Commitment to Jail page 30
- OmniBase Services of Texas: No Show. No Pay. No Problem? (May 2013) page 15
- Should Cities Embrace or Scoff at the Texas Scofflaw Program (March 2013) page 1
- Special Edition: Fines, Fees, Costs, & Indigence (October 2016)
Resources from Other Agencies
The National Center for State Courts
Offers reading materials on issues related to indigence on its website.
Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), 2015-2016 Policy Paper
ACLU of Texas Report (November 2016)
No Exit, Texas, Modern-Day Debtors’ Prisons and the Poverty Trap