LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session
April 6, 1999
TO: Honorable Bob Turner, Chair, House Committee on Public
Safety
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB2802 by Ritter (Relating to the denial of the renewal
of the driver's license of a person who fails to appear
to pay a fine involving an offense within justice or
municipal court jurisdiction.), As Introduced
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB2802, As Introduced: positive impact of $5,774,972 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 $2,808,308 *
* 2001 2,966,664 *
* 2002 2,966,664 *
* 2003 2,966,664 *
* 2004 2,966,664 *
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All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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*Fiscal Probable Revenue Probable Change in Number of *
* Year Gain/(Loss) from Savings/(Cost) from State Employees from *
* General Revenue Fund General Revenue Fund FY 1999 *
* 0001 0001 *
* 2000 $3,033,340 $(225,032) 2.0 *
* 2001 3,033,340 (66,676) 2.0 *
* 2002 3,033,340 (66,676) 2.0 *
* 2003 3,033,340 (66,676) 2.0 *
* 2004 3,033,340 (66,676) 2.0 *
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Technology Impact
The Technology Impact for the bill would be $150,242 for the Fiscal Year
2000.
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Transportation Code to expand the offenses for
which a justice or municipal court could contract with the Department of
Public Safety (DPS) to deny the renewal of a driver's license for a
person who fails to appear to pay a fine.
Methodology
The Department's Information Management Service (IMS) would be required
to make modifications to programs supporting the denial of license
renewal provisions for additional specified charges. IMS would
accomplish this by use of contract computer programmers to assist in
development, testing, and implementation of the modifications at an
estimated cost of $150,242.
Based on the current participation level of the courts under the existing
Failure To Appear (FTA) program, the Departments' License Issuance
Bureau (LIB) projects that 151,667 new cases would arise as a result of
the bill. The current administrative charge for a failure to appear
offense is $30, $20 of which is sent to the Comptroller. Hence, it is
estimated that the bill would generate $3,033,342 annually to the state.
DPS would need two administrative technicians to handle the workload
generated from the additional cases.
Local Government Impact
The bill could generate additional revenue for units of local government
as more defendants would be encouraged to make court appearances and/or
pay their fines in a timely manner. Montgomery County estimates that it
could collect as much as $147,375 annually. Farmers Branch estimates it
could collect approximately $150,000 per year.
Source Agencies:
LBB Staff: JK, MD