LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                          Austin, Texas

                           FISCAL NOTE
                       74th Regular Session

                          March 27, 1995



 TO:     Honorable Pete Patterson, Chair        IN RE:  House Bill No. 2744
         Committee on Agriculture & Livestock           By: Romo
         House of Representatives
         Austin, Texas






FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on House Bill No.
2744 (Relating to the fee paid for inspection of compost.) this
office has determined the following:

The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal
basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions
of the bill.

The bill would amend the Texas Agriculture Code by changing the
definition of compost and requiring an inspection fee on compost
if it is labeled and sold as commercial fertilizer.  The
inspection fee for compost would be 25 percent of the fee for
other commercial fertilizers. 
Currently, commercial fertilizer fees are deposited into the
Texas Fertilizer Control Fund which is a local institutional fund
of the Texas A&M University System.  The inspection fee for
commercial fertilizer is 32 cents per ton. 

Assuming that the administrative costs of inspecting fertilizer
is 32 cents per ton, and the fee for inspecting compost would be
8 cents per ton, then a deficit situation could exist between the
costs for administering and inspecting the compost, and the fee
revenue collected.  However, because the amount of compost
requiring inspection cannot be determined, the fiscal impact to
the Texas Fertilizer Control Fund cannot be determined.


The fiscal implication to  the State cannot be determined.

No fiscal implication to units of local government is    




anticipated.
 

Source:   Comptroller of Public Accounts, Department of
Agriculture
          LBB Staff: JK, JH, DF