LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session
March 9, 1999
TO: Honorable Juan Hinojosa, Chair, House Committee on
Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB1939 by Grusendorf (Relating to indicating on a
driver's license or personal identification card and on
license plates if the holder of the license or card or
the person to whom the plates are issued is a person
convicted of certain sex offenses.), As Introduced
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB1939, As Introduced: negative impact of $(1,056,323) 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:
****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) *
* Impact to General Revenue Related *
* Funds *
* 2000 $(1,211,949) *
* 2001 155,626 *
* 2002 155,626 *
* 2003 155,626 *
* 2004 155,626 *
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All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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*Fiscal Probable Probable Probable Change in *
* Year Revenue Savings/(Cost) Savings/(Cost) Number of State *
* Gain/(Loss) from General from State Employees from *
* from General Revenue Fund Highway Fund FY 1999 *
* Revenue Fund 0001 0006 *
* 0001 *
* 2000 $159,660 $(1,371,609) $(44,092) 0.0 *
* 2001 159,660 (4,034) (6,358) 0.0 *
* 2002 159,660 (4,034) (6,358) 0.0 *
* 2003 159,660 (4,034) (6,358) 0.0 *
* 2004 159,660 (4,034) (6,358) 0.0 *
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Technology Impact
It is estimated that the technology impact for HB1939 would be $1,365,200
for FY2000.
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would require the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to revoke
the driver's license or personal identification card of a person required
to register under the Sex Offender Registration Program. Subsequently,
the department would be required to issue to the offender a new driver's
license or identification card that contains a symbol on the face of the
document indicating the person's previous license was revoked for
conviction of a sex offense.
A court would also be required to confiscate the license plates and
impound the registration receipt for each motor vehicle owned by a
defendant at the time of the conviction or grant of deferred adjudication
for a sex offense. The court, however, could not confiscate the plates
or impound the receipt if the vehicle was the only personally owned
vehicle in the defendant's immediate family and was normally driven by a
family member.
On application of a defendant, the court would order the tax
assessor-collector to issue the defendant a set of sex offender license
plates. The defendant would have to pay $40 in addition to the regular
annual registration fees due. DPS would notify the Texas Department of
Transportation (TxDOT) of the issuance of any license plates. Special
restrictions would apply to the sale or transfer of a motor vehicle so
licensed.
The bill would require TxDOT to design a special series of license plates
for purposes of the bill. The plates would have to be designed so that
law enforcement officials could easily determine when a motor vehicle
was owned by a sex offender.
Methodology
Based on information from the Annual Report Of The Texas Judicial System,
there were 4,246 sex offenders either convicted or placed on deferred
adjudication in FY1998.
DPS' Driver's License Bureau would incur an annual budgetary impact of
$4,034 to have new driver's licenses and ID cards produced and mailed to
that number of offenders.
DPS' Information Management Service (IMS) would require contract
programming services to assist in modifying the distributive driver's
license system at an estimated cost of $1,267,200. The department's
current driver's license and ID card vendor (Polaroid Corporation) would
be required to redesign the driver's license and identification document.
It is estimated that it would cost the department $98,000 for Polaroid
to install, program, and test the production software.
The state would receive revenue from two sources. The Department of
Transportation estimates that 2,930 sex offenders would request sex
offender license plates, generating $117,200 annually. This estimate is
based on 50 percent of sex offenders requesting the plates and 38 percent
of households requiring plates for two automobiles. It is estimated
that the Department of Public Safety would issue 4,246 duplicate driver's
license or ID cards at $10 a piece, generating $42,460 annually.
According to TxDot, the average cost of a new legislated license plate is
$17,000. To manufacture an additional 2,930 licenses would be 2,930 X
$2.17 = $6,358. TxDot would also incur approximately $20,000 in
programming costs for its Registration and Title System and the Special
Plate Program.
Local Government Impact
There could be some administrative costs to county tax collectors offices
and district courts. The cost would depend on the number of sex
offenders in a particular county.
Source Agencies:
LBB Staff: JK, MD, BP