LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE 75th Regular Session March 31, 1997 TO: Honorable Tom Craddick, Chair IN RE: House Bill No. 1515 Committee on Ways & Means By: Thompson House Austin, Texas FROM: John Keel, Director In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on HB1515 ( Relating to the collection of fees for the use of municipal land as a utility right-of-way.) this office has detemined the following: Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by HB1515-As Introduced No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. FISCAL ANALYSIS The bill would require a city to file a judicial proceeding within two years of the original due date to collect an unpaid fee charged for the use of municipal land as a utility right-of-way. Current law does not address the time frame and procedures to be used in collecting unpaid fees for the use of land as a utility right-of-way. LOCAL The cities of Austin, Houston, Fort Worth and Brownwood and the Texas Municipal League were contacted to gather information for this estimate. The City of Austin indicated that public utilities are not audited on an annual basis. Therefore, the two year limit on judicial filing would cause a negative fiscal impact on the city because all utilities would need to be audited annually in order to identify any unpaid fees. Austin stated that, unless auditing were done annually at a substantial cost to the city, those unpaid fees not identified in time to file a judicial proceeding for collection would be lost. The City of Houston indicated there would not be a direct impact upon Houston because they operate through franchise agreements. However, they stated that, should franchise agreements be affected by the bill, there would be a substantial negative fiscal impact. The City of Brownwood did not anticipate a fiscal impact. The Texas Municipal League indicated the fees referred to in this bill are the third largest revenue source for cities. Therefore, the bill would potentially have a significant negative impact on local governments. Source: Agencies: 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts City of Austin City of Houston City of Brownwood LBB Staff: JK ,RR ,BR