LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                                   Austin, Texas
         
                                   FISCAL NOTE
                               75th Regular Session
         
                                  April 25, 1997
         
         
      TO: Honorable Judith Zaffirini, Chair            IN RE:  Senate Bill No. 1539, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
          Committee on Health & Human Services                              By: West Royce
          Senate
          Austin, Texas
         
         
         
         
         FROM:  John Keel, Director    
         
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on SB1539 ( Relating 
to the regulation of certain facilities, homes, and agencies 
that provide child care and of child-care administrators; providing 
penalties.) this office has detemined the following:
         
         Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by SB1539-Committee Report 1st House, Substituted   FN Revision 1
         
Implementing the provisions of the bill would result in a net 
positive impact of $981,302 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.
         
 
Fiscal Analysis
 
The bill would require the Department of Protective and Regulatory 
Services (PRS) to conduct background and criminal history checks 
on owners, operators, employees, and regular visitors associated 
with regulated child-care facilities and family homes.  PRS 
would conduct the background and criminal history checks when 
an application is filed to operate a child-care facility or 
family home, and at least once every 24 months after a facility 
or home is licensed or registered.  Each check must include 
a search of child abuse and neglect reports maintained by PRS, 
and a search of criminal history record information made available 
by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) under Section 411.114 
of the Government Code, or by the Federal Bureau of Investigations 
(FBI) or another criminal justice agency under Section 411.087 
of the Government Code.  PRS by rule must require each child-care 
facility or family home to pay a fee that does not exceed the 
administrative costs the department incurs in conducting the 
background and criminal history check. 

The effective date 
for the bill would be September 1, 1997.
 
Methodolgy
 
PRS reports that it conducted nearly 48,000 background and criminal 
history checks relating to persons associated with regulated 
child-care facilities and family homes in fiscal year 1996. 
 These checks were conducted at no cost to the facility or home. 
 It is assumed that implementation of the provision requiring 
child-care facilities and family homes to pay a fee in an amount 
not to exceed the department's administrative costs would generate 
new revenue with no additional costs.

PRS reports that implementation 
of the provision requiring background and criminal history checks 
at least once every 24 months would encompass nearly 29,000 
regulated child-care facilities and family homes, with the number 
of persons checked per facility ranging from 2 in a small agency 
foster family home to 30 in a large child-care institution. 
 It is assumed that implementation of this provision would require 
PRS to check the background and criminal history of 67,823 persons 
associated with regulated child-care facilities and family homes 
each year.  It is also assumed that most of these checks would 
not duplicate the department's current workload.

PRS estimates 
that one staff person could search 15,000 records each year. 
 It is assumed that 2% of the child abuse/neglect searches and 
1% of the criminal history searches would result in a positive 
match requiring additional staff time to fully document and 
act on the case.  PRS would need 21.9 additional FTE positions 
to accommodate the workload associated with the new requirement 
for biennial background and criminal history checks.  First 
year costs and revenues have been reduced by 25% to give the 
department time to adopt rules and phase-in the new program.

It 
is assumed that PRS would charge a fee to recover the administrative 
costs associated with the background and criminal history check 
requirement.  These would include staffing costs, a $1 fee for 
DPS criminal history searches, and a $24 fee for FBI fingerprint 
searches (which would be conducted on a very small number of 
individuals).
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:
 
 
         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             $490,651
               1999              490,651
               2000              490,651
               2001              490,651
               2002              490,651
 
Similar annual fiscal implications would continue as long as 
the provisions of the bill are in effect.
          
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
          
   Source:            Agencies:   
                                         530   Department of Protective and Regulatory Services
                      LBB Staff:   JK ,BB ,NM