TO:	Honorable Brad Buckley, Chair, House Committee on Public Education
FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB900 by Patterson (Relating to the regulation of books sold to or included in public school libraries.), As Introduced

General Revenue-Related Funds, Five- Year Impact:

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would require the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) to adopt standards for school library collection development with approval from the State Board of Education.

The bill would permit the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to review each book not rated by a school book vendor as sexually relevant or sexually explicit material. If TEA determines that the book is required to be rated as sexually relevant or sexually explicit material, the agency would be required to notify the school book vendor in writing. The notice would be required to include information regarding the school book vendor's duty under this section.

The bill would also require TEA to publish on the agency's website a list of school book vendors that fail to comply provisions of the bill.

The bill would allow a school book vendor placed on a described list to petition TEA for removal from the list. TEA would be allowed to remove a school book vendor from the list only if the agency is satisfied that the vendor has taken appropriate action to rate or change the rating of a book.

The bill would also permit the commissioner of education to adopt rules as necessary to administer provisions of the bill. 

Methodology

This analysis assumes that TEA would require five additional full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions to implement provisions of the bill, including three education specialists and FTEs for technology implementation. There would also be costs associated with developing and maintaining a data collection system through which information from school districts and vendors would be reported to TEA.

This analysis assumes that TEA would incur costs related to reviewing books not rated as sexually relevant or sexually explicit material as permitted by the bill. Such a review process would require two additional education specialists to conduct the review of school book vendor lists. Additionally, one education specialist would be required to implement required provisions of the bill. The total fiscal impact of position for these three specialists, including salaries, setup costs, operating costs, and benefits, is estimated to be $325,107 in fiscal year 2024 and $325,557 each subsequent fiscal year. 

This analysis assumed that TSLAC would require an additional librarian position to implement provisions of the bill and that the total fiscal impact of the position, including travel costs, is estimated to be $105,467 in fiscal year 2024 and $110,368 in fiscal year 2025. 

Technology

This analysis assumes that the initial development effort for TEA to develop and implement the requirements of the bill in a new application would be $301,452 in fiscal year 2024 and $904,355 in fiscal year 2025, for a total biennial cost of $1,205,807 for contracted professional services. Additional technology costs for Data Center Service would include a onetime hardware and software cost of $11,532 split 25/75 in the biennium and an annual ongoing cost $108,756. Additionally, two full-time equivalents, a programmer and a systems analyst, would be needed to provide ongoing support and maintenance at a cost of $327,545 in fiscal year 2024 and an ongoing annual cost of $333,267 for subsequent fiscal years. 

Local Government Impact

It is assumed school districts would incur costs to implement provisions of the bill related to content review of certain school library materials.