LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session February 15, 1999 TO: Honorable Ken Armbrister, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: SB388 by Lucio (Relating to the criminal consequences of driving while intoxicated and to the civil consequences of failure to submit to the taking of a blood, breath, or urine specimen for analysis to determine intoxication.), As Introduced ************************************************************************** * No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. * ************************************************************************** Local Government Impact Fiscal Analysis The bill would create a Class B misdemeanor offense and mandate a minimum term of confinement of 5 days for refusal to provide a breath or blood specimen for analysis to determine the alcohol concentration or presence of other drug in the defendant's body. This would effectively add two days to the minimum period of confinement for those currently convicted of driving while intoxicated under Penal Code, Section 49.04. Methodology According to the Department of Public Safety (DPS), there were 55,953 breathalyzer tests administered statewide by state and local peace officers in fiscal year 1998 and 39,323 persons who refused to submit to such testing. According to the Office of Court Administration's fiscal year 1998 Texas Judicial System Annual Report, 74,379 of 110,534 driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence of drugs cases disposed in county and district courts resulted in conviction, or approximately 67.3 percent. According to the State Commission on Jail Standards, the average cost of confinement per inmate was $33.66 in calendar year 1996. The cost to an individual county would depend on the number of DWI cases, refusals and daily jail costs per inmate. Fiscal Impact Assuming that an equal proportion of those refusing to submit to specimen testing are convicted of DWI as those who accept to submit to testing, approximately 67.3 percent of the 39,323 annual refusals, or 26,461 persons, currently serve the minimum 72 hours and would be required to serve an additional two days of confinement, as a result of the bill's enactment. This would cost counties statewide an additional $1.8 million per year. The 32.7 percent of those refusing specimen tests, or 12,859 persons, who are not convicted of DWI and currently are not required to serve any minimum term of confinement would serve a minimum five days, at a additional annual cost of $2.2 million to counties statewide. Based on this analysis, additional annual confinement costs to counties could increase by as much as $3.9 million as a result of the bill's enactment. It should be noted that the changes in penalties proposed by the bill could result in a significantly greater degree of compliance with officers' blood and breath testing requests, which would reduce the impact of the bill to counties. Likewise, if some judges waive the minimum incarceration provisions in the bill, the fiscal impact to counties could be significantly less. Source Agencies: LBB Staff: JK, MD, TL