LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session
  
                              April 28, 1999
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Rodney Ellis, Chair, Senate Committee on
               Jurisprudence
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB3271  by Goodman (Relating to the coordination of child
               support collection and parent location functions of
               certain state agencies.), As Engrossed
  
**************************************************************************
*  Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for    *
*  HB3271, As Engrossed:  positive impact of $305,000 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.                                                             *
**************************************************************************
  
General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:
  
          ****************************************************
          *  Fiscal Year  Probable Net Positive/(Negative)   *
          *               Impact to General Revenue Related  *
          *                             Funds                *
          *       2000                             $122,000  *
          *       2001                              183,000  *
          *       2002                              183,000  *
          *       2003                              183,000  *
          *       2004                              183,000  *
          ****************************************************
  
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
  
         *****************************************************
         * Fiscal Year      Probable Savings/(Cost) from      *
         *                      General Revenue Fund          *
         *                              0001                  *
         *      2000                                 $122,000 *
         *      2001                                  183,000 *
         *      2002                                  183,000 *
         *      2003                                  183,000 *
         *      2004                                  183,000 *
         *****************************************************
  
Fiscal Analysis
  
The bill would require the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to
cooperate with the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services
(DPRS) in locating parents or relatives of children in foster care.  The
OAG would be required to:  provide DPRS access to all of the OAG s
available child support locating resources; allow DPRS to use the OAG s
child support locating system to track child support payments and to have
access to the agency s management reports that show payments; make
reports on Title IV-E foster care case collections available to DPRS in a
timely manner; and work with DPRS to obtain child support collections
for protective services cases in which children are receiving assistance
through DPRS under temporary care or final orders. The bill would require
DPRS to create a division staffed by personnel trained to locate parents
and relatives of children statewide.

The bill would require OAG to establish a work group to facilitate the
sharing of data and resources to locate parents and relatives of
children served by OAG and other health and human service agencies.  The
work group would consist of representatives from DPRS, the Texas
Department of Human Services, the Texas Department of Health, the Texas
Workforce Commission, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas
Rehabilitation Commission, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
  
  
Methodology
  
The Comptroller of Public Accounts estimates that implementation of this
bill would result in a 20 percent increase in child support collections
for children in foster care for fiscal 2000 and a 30 percent increase in
2001 and beyond.  The percentages are based on the experience of other
states in child support collections for foster care cases.  The savings
to the state from increased child support collections for Title IV-E and
state-paid foster care cases would reduce the General Revenue cost for
providing foster care services.
  
  
Local Government Impact
  
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
  
  
Source Agencies:   530   Department of Protective and Regulatory
                   Services, 304   Comptroller of Public Accounts, 302
                   Office Of The Attorney General, 696   Department of
                   Criminal Justice
LBB Staff:         JK, PE, MD, PH, SC