LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session
March 5, 1999
TO: Honorable Toby Goodman, Chair, House Committee on
Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB1387 by Van de Putte (Relating to investigating
certain deaths and performing autopsies on certain
bodies.), As Introduced
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB1387, As Introduced: negative impact of $(565,678) through the *
* biennium ending August 31, 2001. *
* *
* The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal *
* basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of *
* the bill. *
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General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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* Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) *
* Impact to General Revenue Related *
* Funds *
* 2000 $(282,839) *
* 2001 (282,839) *
* 2002 (282,839) *
* 2003 (282,839) *
* 2004 (282,839) *
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All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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*Fiscal Probable Savings/(Cost) from Change in Number of State *
* Year General Revenue Fund Employees from FY 1999 *
* 0001 *
* 2000 $(282,839) 0.3 *
* 2001 (282,839) 0.3 *
* 2002 (282,839) 0.3 *
* 2003 (282,839) 0.3 *
* 2004 (282,839) 0.3 *
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Fiscal Analysis
The bill would change the age of a child for which an autopsy is required
from 2 years or younger to 12 months or younger; make an autopsy
mandatory for this age group; and require the state to pay the reasonable
cost of the autopsy if the cause of death is sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS).
Costs noted in the table above are associated with the requirement that
the state pay for an autopsy of a deceased child under twelve months, if
the cause of death of the child is determined to be sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS).
Methodology
The annual number of deaths in the state from sudden infant death
syndrome is approximately 250 per year. The average cost of a pediatric
autopsy is assumed to be $1,100 per year. The Department of Health
would require one-fourth (rounded to 0.3 above) of a full-time
equivalent position in order to process the requests for reimbursements
of autopsies.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.
Source Agencies:
LBB Staff: JK, MD, KF