LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session Revision April 1, 1999 TO: Honorable Toby Goodman, Chair, House Committee on Juvenile Justice & Family Issues 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.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted ************************************************************************** * Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for * * HB3271, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: 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: LBB Staff: JK, MD, PH, SC