§ 8.01.State Exemption

One sentence, and it is half of a two-part arrangement.

The state is exempt from the payment of the filing fee imposed by Section 51.701, Government Code.

That fee is a general civil filing fee collected on cases filed in district and county courts and remitted to the state.

The exemption avoids a circular payment. A fee collected by a court clerk and forwarded to the state, paid by the state, moves money from one public account to another and produces nothing but the transaction.

Read alone the section looks like a simple saving to the state. The following section shows it is not, and the two must be read together.

The exempted amount does not disappear. Where the state prevails, the opposing party pays the entire filing fee attributable to the state, including the amount exempted here.

So the exemption is a deferral rather than a forgiveness, and its incidence depends on who wins.

The chapter’s own heading says as much — state exemption from certain fees, fees paid by the opposing party — which is an unusually candid title for a fee provision.

The exemption is specific to one fee. It names Section 51.701 and nothing else, so other fees and costs are governed by their own provisions.