LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE
75th Regular Session
March 28, 1997
TO: Honorable Harvey Hilderbran, Chair IN RE: House Bill No. 942
Committee on Human Services By: Hilderbran
House
Austin, Texas
FROM: John Keel, Director
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on HB942 ( Relating
to AFDC and Medicaid benefits for additional children born to
AFDC recipients.) this office has detemined the following:
Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by HB942-As Introduced
Implementing the provisions of the bill would result in a net
impact of $0 to General Revenue Related Funds through the biennium
ending August 31, 1999.
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 prohibit the Department of Human
Services from providing financial assistance for support of
a child born to a recipient of Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) at least 10 months after the date of qualification
for assistance.
Fiscal Analysis
If an adult recipient of financial assistance becomes the parent
of another child while the recipient is receiving assistance,
the department must deduct the earned income disregards allowed
under federal law, and increase the amount of earned income
disregard for an employed recipient by 50 percent of the amount
granted under Human Resources Code Section 31.003, adjusted
for family size. Even though ineligible for financial assistance
under the provisions of the bill, the latter born child would
still be eligible to receive child care, support services, and
Medicaid.
Methodolgy
To estimate the fiscal impact of the provisions of the bill:
1) data were reviewed on the number of children born during
fiscal year 1996 to mothers on AFDC and who had been on AFDC
at least 10 months prior to the birth of the child;
2)
a monthly average number of births was calculated by dividing
the total by 12;
3) estimated the number of births based
on the projected AFDC caseload;
4) assumed a 93 percent
monthly retention rate for AFDC/TANF cases and modeled cases
over time;
5) calculated the average TANF grant reduction
of $33.33 when the case is reduced by one child;
6) multiplied
the projected case-months by the reduced cases to obtain expenditure
savings;
7) calculated the clients per month by dividing
the total dollars by dollars per client per month by 12 months
per year.
It is anticipated that there will be minimal impact
to staffing, thus no salary costs or FTEs are reflected in the
fiscal impact. It is assumed that Management Information Systems
(MIS) will need to be altered to incorporate the policy changes.
Thus, costs are included for contracting for the necessary
programming on existing computer systems.
The costs and savings
are assumed to be from federal funds (Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families block grant ) since the state is required to
maintain its level of effort in general revenue spending. Savings
in cash benefits are lowered in the first year because the policy
does not go into effect until July 1998 (10 months after the
bill would go into effect).
The probable fiscal implications of implementing the provisions
of the bill during each of the first five years following passage
is estimated as follows:
Five Year Impact:
Fiscal Year Probable Probable
Savings/(Cost) Savings/(Cost)
from Federal from Federal
Funds: TANF Funds: TANF
Block Grant Block Grant
0555 0555
1998 ($564,800) $67,391
1998 1,695,839
2000 2,901,421
2001 3,395,872
2002 3,602,847
Net Impact on General Revenue Related Funds:
The probable fiscal implication to General Revenue related funds
during each of the first five years is estimated as follows:
Fiscal Year Probable Net Postive/(Negative)
General Revenue Related Funds
Funds
1998 $0
1999 0
2000 0
2001 0
2002 0
Similar annual fiscal implications would continue as long as
the provisions of the bill are in effect.
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source: Agencies:
320 Texas Workforce Commission
324 Department of Human Services
501 Department of Health
LBB Staff: JK ,BB ,AZ