LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                                   Austin, Texas
         
                                   FISCAL NOTE
                               75th Regular Session
         
                                  May 31, 1997
         
         
      TO: Honorable Bob Bullock            Honorable James E. "Pete" Laney
          Lieutenant Governor                Speaker of the House
          Senate
          Austin, Texas
         
         
         
         
         FROM:  John Keel, Director    
         
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on HB2272 ( relating 
to certain court costs a person convicted of certain offenses 
is required to pay and to the establishment of the fugitive 
apprehension account; making appropriations.) this office has 
detemined the following:
         
         Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by HB2272-Conference Committee Report
         

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.
         

         
   Appropriations:
   
     The bill would appropriate the following amounts:
   
  Fiscal Year Appropriation 
          out of New                                                                         
          - GR                                                                               
          Dedicated                                                                          
          Fugitive                                                                           
          Apprehension                                                                       
          Account                                                                            
          NEW-DED                                                                             
     1998   $10,398,038                                                                      
     1999    15,648,833                                                                      
 
Fiscal Analysis
 
The bill would add court costs for special services to the Code 
of Criminal Procedure, specifying amounts,  collection/remittance 
procedures, and allocations to be made by the Comptroller. If 
legislation establishing a Center for the Study and Prevention 
of Juvenile Crime and Delinquency at Prairie View A&M University 
is enacted, each fee imposed for special services would increase 
by 25 cents.

In addition, a new five dollar court fee would 
be imposed on persons convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, 
including criminal violations of municipal ordinances, but excluding 
parking and pedestrian violations.  Each quarter, custodians 
of county or municipal treasuries would be required to report 
and remit funds collected.  Funds would be deposited into a 
new general revenue dedicated account, the Fugitive Apprehension 
Account, from which the legislature could appropriate funds 
to defer costs of apprehending certain fugitives and pay costs 
of incarceration.  Local units of government could retain 10 
percent of funds collected.  
 
Methodolgy
 
Records from the Office of Court Administration and Comptroller 
were used to determine the number of convictions on which the 
five dollar fee would be charged.  Adjustments were made to 
account for uncollectible fees, and to reflect the lag in collections 
due to quarterly reporting in fiscal year 1998.  

No estimate 
is included of revenue generated by increased court costs for 
special services; the amount is expected to be insignificant. 
 For the same reason, no estimate is included for the 25 cent 
increase earmarked  for the proposed study facility at Prairie 
View A&M University. 

The Department of Public Safety (DPS) 
estimates costs for apprehending individuals targeted by the 
bill would include staff (an additional 27 FTEs), equipment 
and other operating expenses.  As a result of  expanded apprehension 
efforts by DPS, estimated incarceration costs to the Texas Department 
of Criminal Justice are included.
The probable fiscal implications of implementing the provisions 
of the bill during each of the first five years following passage 
are estimated as follows:
 
Five Year Impact:
 
Fiscal Year Probable Revenue   Probable           Change in Number   
            Gain/(Loss) from   Savings/(Cost)     of State                                                
            New - GR           from New - GR      Employees from                                          
            Dedicated          Dedicated          FY 1997                                                 
            Fugitive           Fugitive                                                                   
            Apprehension       Apprehension                                                               
            Account            Account                                                                    
            NEW-DED            NEW-DED                                                                     
       1998       $11,619,000     ($10,398,038)              27.0                                    
       1998        17,342,000      (15,648,833)              27.0                                    
       2000        17,342,000      (15,648,833)              27.0                                    
       2001        17,342,000      (15,648,833)              27.0                                    
       2002        17,342,000      (15,648,833)              27.0                                    
 
 
         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.
          
Local county jails would incur additional incarceration costs, 
but costs would vary due to factors such as jail operating costs 
and locations where violators might be apprehended.  

The 
DPS estimates the bill could provide approximately $558,000 
each year to local law enforcement agencies providing assistance 
to the DPS fugitive apprehension unit.  The Comptroller estimates 
that local units of government would retain $1.3 million in 
fiscal 1998 and $1.9 million in each fiscal year thereafter. 
 As a result, the net impact of the bill to local governments 
is expected to be insignificant.  
          
   Source:            Agencies:   304   Comptroller of Public Accounts
                                         405   Department of Public Safety
                                         696   Department of Criminal Justice
                                         
                      LBB Staff:   JK ,BB ,JN ,BP