Honorable Brian Birdwell, Chair, Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Economic Development
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB915 by Craddick (relating to the creation of a workplace violence hotline and a requirement that employers post notice regarding the hotline.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB915, Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted : an impact of $0 through the biennium ending August 31, 2025.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation is required to implement a provision of the bill only if the legislature appropriates money specifically for that purpose. If the legislature does not appropriate money specifically for that purpose, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation may, but is not required to, implement a provision of the bill using other appropriations available for that purpose.
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
General Revenue-Related Funds, Five- Year Impact:
Fiscal Year
Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2024
$0
2025
$0
2026
$0
2027
$0
2028
$0
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from General Revenue Fund 1
Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2023
2024
($452,025)
$452,025
4.0
2025
($1,074,394)
$1,074,394
4.0
2026
($1,571,610)
$1,571,610
4.0
2027
($2,068,830)
$2,068,830
4.0
2028
($2,566,054)
$2,566,054
4.0
Fiscal Analysis
This bill would require the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) to establish and maintain a toll-free telephone hotline for reports of workplace violence. TDLR would be required to maintain and retain audio recordings from every call and refer reports to appropriate law enforcement divisions. The Texas Workforce Commission would be responsible for developing and adopting rules pertaining to the bill as well as designing the notice that employers would be required to have posted regarding this hotline.
Methodology
Based on TDLR's analysis of the National Crime Victimization Survey, this estimate assumes that TDLR would receive 20% of all cases of workplace violence not reported to the police as the agency anticipates half of calls that are historically reported instead to a different official entity.
The agency anticipates and this estimate assumes that TDLR would require 4.0 additional full-time equivalent (FTE) positions to implement the provisions of the bill. 3.0 Customer Service Representative IV FTEs (annual salary of $39,976 and $12,724 in estimated benefits) would be needed to receive calls and reporting required information to law enforcement. These FTEs would also need to receive specialized training, including crisis intervention, de-escalation, ascertaining threat levels, and suicidal callers. A Network Specialist V (annual salary of $66,259 and $21,090 in estimated benefits) would be needed maintain the equipment and technology systems supporting the hotline, including the data storage system for the audio recordings. The total annual cost for these 4.0 would be $283,945 with a one-time start up cost of $17,800.
This analysis assumes that any increased cost to TDLR would be offset by an increase in fee-generated revenue because the agency is statutorily required to generate sufficient revenue to cover operational costs.
Based on the analysis of the Texas Workforce Commission, duties and responsibilities of implementing the provisions of the bill can be accomplished by utilizing existing resources.
Technology
The bill would require TDLR to maintain both a 24-hr toll-free hotline and audio-file storage of all calls with a retention period of six months. Based on TDLR's analysis of the National Crime Victimization Survey, this estimate assumes that based on the estimated number of calls to the hotline described above and with an average of 20 minutes per call, total technology costs of maintaining the hotline and audio storage would be $150,280 in fiscal year 2024, $722,197 in fiscal year 2025, $1,269,057 in fiscal year 2026, $1,765,917 in fiscal year 2027 and $2,262,777 in fiscal year 2028.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
320 Texas Workforce Commission, 452 Department of Licensing and Regulation