LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                                   Austin, Texas
         
                                   FISCAL NOTE
                               75th Regular Session
         
                                  April 7, 1997
         
         
      TO: Honorable Allen Place, Chair            IN RE:  House Bill No. 2272
          Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence                              By: Thompson
          House
          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.) this office has detemined the following:
         
         Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by HB2272-As Introduced
         
Implementing the provisions of the bill would result in a net 
positive impact of $9,000,000 to General Revenue Related Funds 
through the biennium ending August 31, 1999.
         

         
 
Fiscal Analysis
 
The bill would amend two state court fees and replace seven 
others with a uniform court fee schedule by type of offense. 
 These current court fees would be replaced by a single state 
court fee of $125 for felonies and similar convictions, $75 
for Class A and B misdemeanors and similar convictions, and 
$32 for certain offenses punishable by fine only.  The bill 
would lay out the mechanism for collection of the court fees 
and allocate a specific percentage of collections to each account 
that currently receives revenue from the affected court fees. 
 Local governments would continue to be allowed to retain 10 
percent of the court fees as service fees for collection.

The 
bill would not affect current court costs for judicial and court 
personnel training, juvenile probation diversion, arrest fees, 
and traffic law failure to appear.

The bill would allow counties 
and municipalities that maintain a certified breath alcohol 
testing program without the assistance of a Department of Public 
Safety certified technical supervisor to continue to retain 
$22.50 of each of the court costs for intoxication convictions 
under Chapter 49 of the Penal Code and Chapter 522 of the Transportation 
Code.

The bill would take effect January 1, 1998 and would 
apply to court costs imposed on convictions for offenses that 
had been committed on or after that date.
 
Methodolgy
 
The Comptroller of Public Accounts analysis applied the new 
fees that would imposed by the bill to the number of cases with 
convictions in fiscal year 1996 and determined that the amount 
of assessed court costs would be similar to the amount assessed 
under the current fee structure.  About 75.9 percent of costs 
currently assessed are actually collected under the current 
fee structure.  Assuming a similar collection rate, there would 
be no loss to state revenue under this bill.

According to 
the Comptroller, the accounts involved and the percentages for 
distribution are the same as under current collections, except 
that collections for judicial and court personnel training, 
juvenile probation diversion, and arrest fees are excluded. 
 Applying the percentages to the estimated revenue from the 
new court costs would have no significant effect on those accounts. 
 

The unspecified percentage for distribution, 10.62 percent, 
would be deposited to the General Revenue Fund.  The General 
Revenue Fund currently receives about 7 percent of total collections 
for court costs.  The Comptroller found that there would be 
a gain to the General Revenue Fund. 

The estimated fiscal 
impact assumes that the number of convictions would remain equivalent 
in future years.
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 Revenue   
            Gain/(Loss) from                                                                              
            General Revenue                                                                               
            Fund                                                                                          
            0001                                                                                           
       1998        $4,500,000                                                                        
       1998         4,500,000                                                                        
       2000         4,500,000                                                                        
       2001         4,500,000                                                                        
       2002         4,500,000                                                                        
 
 
         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           $4,500,000
               1999            4,500,000
               2000            4,500,000
               2001            4,500,000
               2002            4,500,000
 
Similar annual fiscal implications would continue as long as 
the provisions of the bill are in effect.
          
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government 
is anticipated.
          
   Source:            Agencies:   753   Sam Houston State University
                                         405   Department of Public Safety
                                         301   Office of the Governor
                                         407   Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education
                                         212   Office of Court Administration
                                         304   Comptroller of Public Accounts
                                         302   Office of the Attorney General
                                         
                      LBB Staff:   JK ,CB ,RN