LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE
74th Regular Session
March 31, 1995
TO: Honorable Don Henderson, Chair IN RE: Senate Bill No. 793
Committee on Jurisprudence By: Harris
Senate
Austin, Texas
FROM: John Keel, Director
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on Senate Bill No.
793 (relating to the enforcement of certain child support and
medical support obligations) 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 several sections of the Human Resources
Code. It would authorize and strongly encourage the Attorney
General to contract with a private attorney, other private
entity, or political subdivision of the state to: establish or
modify child support obligations; collect child support; or
determine paternity. The bill would require that ten percent of
AFDC cases in which a support payment is delinquent by one year
or more shall be contracted out. The Attorney General would be
required, "to the extent possible," to enforce AFDC cases no
later than one year from the date of referral.
The bill would also require the Attorney General to encourage use
of the Employer New Hire Reporting (ENHR) program in the Child
Support Division by simplifying employer reporting requirements.
The Office of the Attorney General would be required to work
closely with the Texas Employment Commission, the Texas Workers'
Compensation Commission, the Comptroller of Public Accounts, the
Texas Department of Commerce, the Secretary of State, and
employer groups, in order to expand the use of the ENHR program,
which provides a means for employers to assist in the State's
efforts to locate absent parents who owe child support and
collect support from those parents by reporting information
concerning newly hired and rehired employees directly to the
Child Support Enforcement program.
The Attorney General and the Department of Human Services would
be required to adopt a memorandum of understanding governing the
establishment and enforcement of court-ordered child support in
AFDC cases.
The bill would also amend several sections of the Family Code.
On the installation of an automated child support enforcement
system, the Office of the Attorney General would be strongly
encouraged to maximize the collection of medical support, and to
establish cash medical support orders for children eligible for
medical assistance under the state Medicaid program for whom
private insurance coverage is not available.
The Governor, in cooperation with the Office of the Attorney
General, would be required to establish a working group to
develop strategies to maximize federal assistance for county
based child support collection efforts and to reduce the State's
child support enforcement non-AFDC caseload. The State's IV-A
agency (Department of Human Services) would be required to pay a
cash incentive to the IV-D agency (Office of the Attorney
General) for Medicaid cases enrolled in medical insurance by
Attorney General enforcement action.
The Attorney General would be required to provide to the
Legislature no later than December 1, 1996 an estimate of the
cost savings to the State from expansion of child support
privatization contracts. The Attorney General and the Department
of Human Services (DHS) would be required to develop and
implement a plan to assign one or more child support enforcement
officers to work in DHS offices.
The Office of Attorney General has identified 224 Full Time
Equivalent Employees and a biennial cost of $20,909,194 to
implement the provisions of the bill. The amounts indicated
below are based on Comptroller of Public Accounts estimates and
do not include Office of the Attorney General costs as a
requirement of implementation.
The probable fiscal implication of implementing the provisions of
the bill during each of the first five years following passage
is estimated as follows:
Fiscal Probable Revenue Probable Revenue Probable Cost Out
Year Gain to Gain to Child of Child Support
General Revenue Support Retained
Fund 001 Retained Collections
Collections Account 787
Account 787
1996 $4,100,000 $994,000 $48,000
1997 4,600,000 3,288,000 96,000
1998 5,000,000 3,388,000 96,000
1999 5,500,000 3,588,000 96,000
2000 6,100,000 3,788,000 96,000
Similar annual fiscal implications would continue as long as the
provisions of the bill are in effect.
The fiscal implication to units of local government cannot be
determined.
Source: Comptroller of Public Accounts, Office of the Attorney
General
LBB Staff: JK, JC, RR