LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session May 8, 1999 TO: Honorable Frank Madla, Chair, Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB 352 by Denny (Relating to the limit on fines collected by municipalities for traffic violations.), As Engrossed ************************************************************************** * No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. * ************************************************************************** The bill could result in a small revenue increase to the state, but the increase is not expected to be significant. Local Government Impact The bill would require fines from all vehicle and traffic violations to be used in the calculation of the amount a municipality with a population under 5,000 must remit to the state in excess highway fines (revenues from fines over 30 percent of a municipalities total revenue). Under current law, only moving violations and inspection violations are counted in the 30 percent cap. Municipalities currently remitting excess highway fines to the state would be required to remit additional fine revenue to the state, depending on the amount of vehicle and traffic violation fines being collected that are not related to moving violations and inspection violations. There could be additional municipalities that would exceed the 30 percent cap as a result of the bill's enactment. These municipalities thus would be required to remit a portion of vehicle and traffic violations fine revenue to the state. According to the comptroller, there were only two cities that paid a total of $65,845 to the state in excess highway fines in fiscal year 1998. Based on this data, it is not expected that the bill would affect a significant number of municipalities or that the amount of additional revenue to the state would be significant. Source Agencies: 601 Dept Of Transportation, 304 Comptroller Of Pub Accts LBB Staff: JK, TL, PE