CHAPTER 2107. COLLECTION OF DELINQUENT OBLIGATIONS TO STATE
GOVERNMENT CODE
TITLE 10. GENERAL GOVERNMENT
SUBTITLE C. STATE ACCOUNTING, FISCAL MANAGEMENT, AND PRODUCTIVITY
CHAPTER 2107. COLLECTION OF DELINQUENT OBLIGATIONS TO STATE
Sec. 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, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1993.
Sec. 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, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1993.
Sec. 2107.003. COLLECTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL OR OUTSIDE AGENT.
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (c) or (c-1), a state
agency shall refer an uncollected and delinquent obligation that
meets the referral guidelines established by the attorney general
to the attorney general for further collection efforts. The
state agency must refer the obligation on or before the 90th day
after the date the obligation becomes past due or delinquent.
(b) The attorney general:
(1) may provide legal services for collection of the obligation;
(2) may authorize the requesting state agency to employ, retain,
or contract with, subject to approval by the attorney general and
subject to the agency's compliance with applicable guidelines
established by the attorney general, one or more persons to
collect the obligation; or
(3) if the attorney general determines it to be economical and
in the best interest of the state, may contract on behalf of the
state agency with one or more persons to collect the obligation.
(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 referral guidelines
adopted for collection by the attorney general. A proposed
contract under this subsection shall be reviewed by the attorney
general. A person contracting with the comptroller under this
subsection is entitled to a collection fee, as provided under the
contract, in an amount not to exceed 30 percent of the full
amount of the obligation.
(c-1) The comptroller may also contract with one or more persons
to collect delinquent obligations that have been referred to the
attorney general and that the attorney general has returned to
the comptroller after exhausting all reasonable collection
efforts. A proposed contract under this subsection shall be
reviewed by the attorney general. A person contracting with the
comptroller under this subsection is entitled to a collection fee
equal to 30 percent of the full amount of the obligation
collected.
(d) The agency contracting under Subsection (b) or (c) is
entitled to recover from the obligor, in addition to the amount
of the obligation, reasonable costs incurred in undertaking the
collection, including the costs of a contract under this section,
in an amount not to exceed 30 percent of the total amount of the
obligation.
(e) A person awarded a contract under Subsection (b), (c), or
(c-1) may not file suit or otherwise pursue judicial action to
collect the obligation owed in a court of this state or another
state on behalf of the contracting state agency.
(f) Except as provided by Subsection (b)(3), a state agency may
determine in its sole discretion which obligations to refer to a
private collection firm for collection.
(g) The contracting state agency may provide a person
contracting under Subsection (b), (c), or (c-1) any information,
including confidential information, that the agency is not
prohibited from sharing with another state or with the United
States and that is:
(1) in the custody of the agency owed the obligation; and
(2) necessary to the collection of the obligation.
(h) A person acting under a contract formed under Subsection
(b), (c), or (c-1) and each employee or agent of that person is
subject to all statutory prohibitions against the wrongful
disclosure of confidential information that the contracting state
agency and its employees are subject to. A contractor's employee
is subject to the same penalties for wrongful disclosure of
confidential information as would apply to the employees of the
contracting agency.
(i) The contracting agency shall require a person who contracts
under Subsection (b), (c), or (c-1) to obtain and maintain
insurance adequate to provide reasonable coverage for damages
negligently, recklessly, or intentionally caused by the
contractor or the contractor's employee or agent in the course of
collecting an obligation under the contract.
(j) A person who contracts with a state agency under this
section is subject to Chapter 392, Finance Code.
Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1993. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 653, Sec. 1, eff.
Sept. 1, 1997.
Amended by:
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch.
1386, Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2007.
Sec. 2107.004. NOTICE BY COMPTROLLER TO ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR
FURTHER COLLECTION. Except as provided by Section 2107.003, not
later than the 30th day after the comptroller determines that its
efforts to collect a delinquent obligation have failed, the
comptroller shall report the uncollected and delinquent
obligation to the attorney general for further collection
efforts.
Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1993. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 653, Sec. 2, eff.
Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 470, Sec. 1, eff. Sept.
1, 1999.
Amended by:
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch.
1386, Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2007.
Sec. 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, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1993. Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 470, Sec. 2, eff.
Sept. 1, 1999.
Sec. 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, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1993.
Sec. 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, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1993. Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 62, Sec. 8.18, eff.
Sept. 1, 1999.
Sec. 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, Sec. 1.29, eff. Oct. 1,
1999. Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1158, Sec. 44, eff.
June 15, 2001.