TO:	Honorable Brian Birdwell, Chair, Senate Committee on Border Security
FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB7 by Guillen (Relating to measures to address public safety threats in this state presented by transnational criminal activity, including by establishing a Texas Border Force, and to compensate persons affected by those threats; increasing criminal penalties; creating criminal offenses.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted

The bill would require the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to periodically review technologies that may be deployed for border security operations to ensure the agency is utilizing innovative solutions for those operations.

The bill would create the Texas Border Force (TBF) as a division of the Texas Rangers to conduct border security operations, including law enforcement operations, intelligence gathering, surveillance, tactical operations, and training.

The bill would allow DPS to enter into a written agreement with the Texas Military Department (TMD) to assign service members of the Texas military forces to the TBF and reimburse TMD for hiring, training, salary and benefits costs incurred as a result.

The bill would require DPS to purchase and deploy technology and equipment to detect and suppress criminal activity along the Texas-Mexico border including razor wire, buoy barriers, and surveillance and detection technology at each port to inspect passenger and commercial vehicles for smuggling of individuals or controlled substances. DPS would be granted all purchasing and procurement capabilities related to the purchase of technologies and equipment for border security operations.

According to DPS, technology costs would total $52,000,000 in fiscal year 2024 and $12,000,000 in fiscal year 2025 for five advanced scanning stations at ports of entry ($40,000,000 in fiscal year 2024 only) and intelligence software ($12,000,000 per fiscal year).

The bill would allow DPS to offer credit for up to four years of experience as a Border Patrol Agent of the US Customs and Border Protection for the purpose of calculating an officer's salary under Schedule C.

The bill would allow DPS to provide a cash balance group member hired for the TBF who served active federal duty in the armed forces of the United States and obtains a peace officer license issued under Chapter 1701, Occupations Code, the option to establish verified military service credit not to exceed six months in the retirement system.

According to DPS, the costs associated with implementing the provisions of the bill, while assumed to be significant, cannot be determined at this time due to the size and scope of the TBF being unknown. For context, if it was determined DPS would contract 300 Texas State Guardsmen, the agency would require $27,960,750 in General Revenue in fiscal year 2024 and $23,176,000 in fiscal year 2025. This estimate assumes $75,000 per fiscal year for each Texas State Guardsmen for salary and benefits, $4,784,625 in fiscal year 2024 for 75 vehicles equipped with radios, and $676,125 each fiscal year for fuel and maintenance.

The bill would restrict a municipality, county, or special purpose district from limiting the jurisdiction or authority of the Border Force.

The bill would create the Class A misdemeanor offense of improper entry from a foreign nation. The penalty would be increased to a state jail felony in the case of a previous conviction of the offense and increased to a second or first degree felony in the case of certain previous felony convictions. The bill would require a DPS law enforcement officer who arrests a person for such an offense, to the extent feasible, to detain the person in a facility established under Operation Lone Star or a similar border security operation of this state. The Office of Court Administration (OCA) and the Comptroller of Public Accounts both indicate that the fiscal impact cannot be determined. The impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined due to a lack of data to estimate the prevalence of conduct outlined in the bill's provisions that would be subject to criminal penalties.

The bill would establish a 10-year term of imprisonment for the third-degree felony offense of smuggling of persons and would increase the minimum term of imprisonment to 10 years for the second- and first-degree felony offenses of smuggling of persons and continuous smuggling of persons. The average length of stay for an individual released from prison in fiscal year 2022 for the offenses of smuggling of persons and continuous smuggling of persons was approximately 1.0 year. The impact on state correctional populations and the demand for state correctional resources could be significant due to the increased terms of confinement and the subsequent compounding increase in demand for prison bed capacity.

The bill would define and specify foreign terrorist organizations that engage in certain activities as a public nuisance and make them and their members susceptible to the same court actions and lawsuits to which criminal street gangs are susceptible under current law. The bill would make real property owned by a member or participant of a foreign terrorist organization subject to asset forfeiture. The bill would add foreign terrorist organizations to the Office of the Attorney General's (OAG) gang resource system to provide criminal justice agencies and juvenile justice agencies with information. OAG indicates that there will be no significant fiscal impact to the agency.

The bill would establish a Border Property Damage Compensation Program to be administered by OAG. The program would allow OAG to compensate a person for actual damages, not to exceed $75,000 per incident, to their agricultural land caused by a person who entered or attempted to enter the state by crossing the border with Mexico at any time or place other than a port of entry. 

According to OAG, it would require 11.0 FTEs to establish and administer the Border Property Damage Compensation program. This analysis assumes a cost of $2,050,480 in fiscal year 2024 and $1,190,215 in fiscal year 2025 for salaries, onetime technology costs to develop a reporting system, and other operating expenses.

For context, OAG estimates that it may receive 500 applications or more in fiscal year 2024 for property damage compensation. If each applicant is awarded an average of $50,000, the total cost for the program could be $25,000,000 in fiscal year 2024 alone. However, with no verifiable statewide data to determine the number of applications or the average amount paid, the fiscal impact cannot be determined.

The bill would expand the duties of the Interagency Work Group on Border Issues to identify and develop solutions to challenges and threats to state agencies along the border and adds the head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, and the Texas Military Department as designees.

The bill would allow funds appropriated to the Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor to be made available to state agencies and local governments for the construction and maintenance of facilities related to prosecuting and adjudicating offenses committed in the border region; construction and improvement in the vicinity of a port of entry to enhance vehicle inspection; and the construction or improvement of roadways and transportation facilities for monitoring commercial vehicles.

The bill would give the Governor authority to execute agreements with the United Mexican States and the states of the United Mexican States for the protection and defense of the citizens of Texas.

The bill would take effect September 1, 2023.

Local Government Impact

According to OCA, the provisions of the bill may result in a significant increase in the county courts' workload as the impact to the local court system will be driven by law enforcement and the TBF's capacity to apprehend, arrest, and process the number of individuals the bill exposes to arrest or increased penalty.