LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE 75th Regular Session April 30, 1997 TO: Honorable Barry Telford, Chair IN RE: House Bill No. 1700, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted Committee on Pensions and Investments By: Rangel House Austin, Texas FROM: John Keel, Director In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on HB1700 ( Relating to group health coverage for school district employees.) this office has detemined the following: Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by HB1700-Committee Report 1st House, Substituted FN Revision 1 No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. The bill would require that school districts provide health insurance coverage to their employees that is "substantially similar" to the insurance coverage offered to state employees. The bill would provide several criteria that the Teacher Retirement System shall use in determining whether a district's coverage is substantially similar. Current statute requires that school districts provide "comparable" coverage, but does not define what "comparable" coverage means. One of the criteria in the bill requires a school district to pay for 90% of the cost of employee-only coverage, and 45% of the cost of dependent coverage. According to information reported by the school districts to the Teacher Retirement System, 243 school districts currently pay between 70% and 100% of the cost for employee-only coverage, and at least 506 school districts pay less than 70%. The majority of school districts reported making no contribution for dependent coverage. Source: Agencies: LBB Staff: JK ,PE ,SC