LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session
May 5, 1999
TO: Honorable Toby Goodman, Chair, House Committee on
Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: SB368 by Harris (Relating to court-ordered child
support, including the child support enforcement
functions of the office of the attorney general and the
sunset review of those functions and the implementation
of the child support enforcement provisions of the
federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996; providing civil and criminal
penalties.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* SB368, Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted: positive impact *
* of $2,940,922 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 $1,470,461 *
* 2001 1,470,461 *
* 2002 1,470,461 *
* 2003 1,470,461 *
* 2004 1,470,461 *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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*Fiscal Probable Probable Probable Probable *
* Year Savings/(Cost) Revenue Savings/(Cost) Savings/(Cost) *
* from Child Gain/(Loss) from TANF from Federal *
* Support from Child Federal Funds Funds *
* Retained Support 0555 0555 *
* Collections in Retained *
* the General Collections in *
* Revenue Fund the General *
* 0001 Revenue Fund *
* 0001 *
* 2000 $51,825 $1,418,636 $2,118,384 $466,425 *
* 2001 51,825 1,418,636 2,118,384 466,425 *
* 2002 51,825 1,418,636 2,118,384 466,425 *
* 2003 51,825 1,418,636 2,118,384 466,425 *
* 2004 51,825 1,418,636 2,118,384 466,425 *
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Fiscal Analysis
The bill implements the Sunset Commission recommendations relating to the
child support enforcement function at the Office of the Attorney General
(OAG). Provisions of the bill would create an interagency work group on
child support enforcement, create a county advisory work group,
establish an ombudsman program to track complaints, authorize courts to
enter temporary orders for child support after a father signs a birth
certificate or executes a statement of paternity, and modify the
memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Attorney General and the
Department of Human Services (DHS) relating to recipients of Temporary
Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and child support collections. The bill
also requires the OAG to seek a lien to enforce child support whenever an
obligor has arrears in excess of $5,000.
The bill would streamline the judicial process by removing the
requirement that a referring court countersign child support orders
issued by IV-D masters and requires the presiding judges of the
administrative judicial regions and the Office of the Court
Administration to develop a plan to improve the quality and
accountability of the IV-D Masters.
Most of the provisions of the bill could be implemented without a
significant cost to the agencies involved. The provisions relating to
establishing support orders based on paternity acknowlegements or birth
certificates and the provisions relating to the MOU between the OAG and
DHS are expected to have a positive fiscal impact.
Methodology
The OAG estimates that the provisions allowing a court to issue a
temporary support order based on a signed birth certificate or paternity
acknowledgement would reduce the number of paternity tests administered
each year, reducing costs by $518,250 per year. Ten percent of the
savings would be from the state's retained collections account in General
Revenue, and the other 90% would be from federal child support
enforcement funds. These provisions are also projected to result in an
increase of $3,479,390 in child support collections, with the state
retaining one-third of those increased collections. The other two-thirds
would be returned to the federal government.
The provisions in the bill relating to the MOU with DHS are expected to
result in an increase of $298,602 per year in child support collections,
with the state retaining one-third of that amount. The revised MOU is
also expected to reduce the amount spent on TANF grants by $2,118,384
per year.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.
Source Agencies: 302 Office Of The Attorney General, 304
Comptroller of Public Accounts
LBB Staff: JK, MD, PE, SC