LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session
  
                              April 17, 1999
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Juan Hinojosa, Chair, House Committee on
               Criminal Jurisprudence
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB831  by Talton (Relating to the administration and
               operation of a pretrial services office and the
               imposition of certain fees and costs.), As Introduced
  
**************************************************************************
*  No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.        *
**************************************************************************
  
Local Government Impact
  
Bill Analysis

The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure by changing the term
used for offices that supervise defendants out on bail from "personal
bond" to "pretrial services" office.

The bill would also change the fee on personal bonds, which is currently
3 percent or $20, whichever is greater, to a set fee of $30.  A defendant
would also be required to pay $25 - $40 a month when under the
supervision of the pretrial services office.  The court would be allowed
to waive either fee if good cause is shown.

The bill would also allow the court to require the defendant to pay costs
incurred for electronic monitoring, urinalysis, interlock ignition
devices or other services relating to supervision of the defendant.

Methodology

There are currently 17 counties, most of them large population counties,
using a personal bond or pretrial services office.  The provision of the
bill that changes the fee from 3 percent or $20, whichever is greater, to
$30 would probably result in an overall loss of revenue, although the
fiscal impact would depend on decisions by magistrates and would vary by
county.  Most counties currently charge the greater personal bond fee (3
percent of bond) and collect it prior to release.  The two most common
bonds are set for $10,000 and $500, for which the fees are $300 and $15
respectively.  Most of the directors of county pretrial services offices
who provided information for this analysis expect the personal bond fee
revenue reduced by at least half as a result of the change in the bill.
The five counties that were contacted for this bill anticipated a net
decrease of $523,000 from this provision.

Another provision of the bill would create a new revenue source for
pretrial services offices by allowing the court to charge a monthly fee
of $25-40 to defendants being supervised.  Although the fee increase
would likely result in a revenue gain to most counties, the number of
defendants for whom fees would be waived and the collection rate of each
county would cause the fiscal impact to vary.  The five counties that
were contracted for this bill anticipated a net increase of $1,394,000
from this provision.

Another provision of the bill would allow judges to require defendants to
pay costs incurred by pretrial services for electronic monitoring,
urinalysis, interlock ignition devices, or other services related to
supervision of the defendant.  All of the counties contacted stated that
judges would not impose this fee and were not willing to project revenue
from it.

The net local fiscal impact of the bill would vary based on decisions
made by courts in different counties.  The estimated net fiscal impact
of the bill on the five sample counties would be an annual net increase
of $871,000.
  
  
Source Agencies:   304   Comptroller Of Pub Accts
LBB Staff:         JK, MD, GG