LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                                   Austin, Texas
         
                                   FISCAL NOTE
                               75th Regular Session
         
                                  March 17, 1997
         
         
      TO: Honorable Rodney Ellis, Chair            IN RE:  Senate Bill No. 34
          Committee on Jurisprudence                              By: Zaffirini
          Senate
          Austin, Texas
         
         
         
         
         FROM:  John Keel, Director    
         
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on SB34 ( Relating 
to the parent-child relationship, suits affecting the parent-child 
relationship, and the protection of children.) this office has 
detemined the following:
         
         Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by SB34-As Introduced
         

Implementing the provisions of the bill would result in a 
net positive impact of $10,677,164 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 amend several chapters of the 
Family Code relating to children in the managing conservatorship 
of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.  It 
would also require the Office of Court Administration to prepare 
an annual report on judicial efficiency in certain family law 
cases pertaining to these children.

         
 
Fiscal Analysis
 
A number of the bill's provisions would have no significant 
fiscal impact.  These include requiring a man to declare paternity 
within 30 days of the birth of a child; authorizing the court 
to use new grounds for terminating the parent-child relationship; 
requiring the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services 
(PRS) to maintain a computerized database of foster care and 
adoption information; and requiring the Office of Court Administration 
(OCA) to prepare the annual report on judicial efficiency.

The 
bill's provisions relating to permanency planning for children 
in the managing conservatorship of PRS  would have a significant 
fiscal impact.  The bill would require the department to recommend 
to the court one of two alternatives after a child has been 
in  conservatorship for one year:  returning the child to the 
child's parents and dismissing the suit, or terminating parental 
rights and retaining conservatorship.  The effective date for 
this provision would be September 1, 1997.  The bill would require 
the court to select between the two alternatives when issuing 
an order at the first permanency hearing on or after the first 
anniversary of the child's placement in conservatorship.  The 
effective date for this provision is September 1, 1998.
 
Methodolgy
 
It is assumed that these provisions would significantly increase 
the workload of the department's child protective services program 
and legal staff.  The workload increase would be heaviest in 
fiscal year 1998, when the department would implement new permanency 
planning procedures and begin moving about 3,500 foster children 
who have been in conservatorship for 12 or more months through 
the court system in preparation for a final court order of reunification 
or termination. 

It is also assumed that the cost of the 
additional workload would be more than offset by a savings in 
foster care and other purchased service payments, because the 
provisions of the bill would cause children to leave the system 
more quickly due to reunification with their family or termination 
of parental rights and eventual adoption by another family.

 
The Department of Protective and Regulatory Services estimates 
that 337 children in conservatorship would leave the foster 
care system during fiscal year 1998 due to implementation of 
the bill's provisions.  The number of children leaving the system 
after 1998 would rise steadily, from 1,693 in 1999 to nearly 
2,500 in the year 2001.  This would result in a five-year savings 
of more than $110 million in foster care payments and $1.7 million 
in other purchased service  payments.  The department estimates 
that the number of children receiving adoption subsidy payments 
would increase by 150 due to implementation of the bill's provisions, 
and foster care savings have been adjusted for the increase 
in adoption subsidy payments.

The department estimates that 
implementation of the bill's provisions would require additional 
child protective service workers and legal staff to handle the 
new permanency planning requirements.  Staffing costs have been 
adjusted for a gradual implementation of the program in 1998. 
 The cost estimate uses federal revenue from the Temporary Assistance 
for Needy Families (TANF) program.  In the event that TANF funds 
are unavailable for allocation, General Revenue may need to 
be substituted.
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           Probable           Probable           Change in Number   
            Savings/(Cost)     Savings/(Cost)     Savings/(Cost)     Savings/(Cost)     of State          
            from General       from General       from Federal Funds from Federal Funds Employees from    
            Revenue Fund       Revenue Fund                                             FY 1997           
            0001               0001               0555               0555                                  
       1998      ($4,604,926)        $3,156,825      ($3,417,593)        $1,641,687             180.0
       1998       (2,377,816)        14,503,081       (1,764,721)         7,542,235              90.0
       2000       (2,476,691)        16,460,143       (1,838,101)         8,559,992              97.0
       2001       (2,676,583)        18,764,019       (1,986,453)         9,758,108             103.0
       2002       (2,778,174)        21,203,445       (2,061,850)        11,026,716             104.0
 


 
         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         ($1,448,101)
               1999           12,125,265
               2000           13,983,452
               2001           16,087,436
               2002           18,425,271
 
Similar annual fiscal implications would continue as long as 
the provisions of the bill are in effect.
          
Implementation of the bill's provisions would result in a significant 
additional cost for local government because many counties provide 
legal representation for children in the managing conservatorship 
of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.  The 
department estimates that the additional workload would cause 
local governments to hire additional attorneys at a cost of 
$7 million statewide during the first two years of the bill's 
implementation.
          
   Source:            Agencies:   501   Department of Health
                                         530   Department of Protective and Regulatory Services
                                         302   Office of the Attorney General
                                         
                      LBB Staff:   JK ,BB ,NM