LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session
April 5, 1999
TO: Honorable Florence Shapiro, Chair, Senate Committee on
State Affairs
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: SB418 by Moncrief (Relating to procedures for and access
to reports of political contributions and expenditures.),
As Introduced
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* SB418, As Introduced: negative impact of $(903,730) 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 $(592,365) *
* 2001 (311,365) *
* 2002 (311,365) *
* 2003 (311,365) *
* 2004 (311,365) *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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*Fiscal Probable Savings/(Cost) from Change in Number of State *
* Year General Revenue Fund Employees from FY 1999 *
* 0001 *
* 2000 $(592,365) 13.0 *
* 2001 (311,365) 13.0 *
* 2002 (311,365) 13.0 *
* 2003 (311,365) 13.0 *
* 2004 (311,365) 13.0 *
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Technology Impact
The Ethics Commission estimates that the bill would require programming
to accommodate the increase in electronic filings, to allow for filing
through a modem or the Internet, and for certifying the formats of
filers' software which would be used for filing reports electronically.
The agency also projects a need to upgrade its data base, to create a
fully searchable retrieval data base and to purchase four additional
terminals to provide public access to electronic reports.
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would require campaign finance reports filed with the Ethics
Commission to be filed by computer diskette, modem, or other means of
electronic transfer unless certain exemptions apply. Those exempt from
the electronic filing requirement would be permitted to continue filing
campaign finance reports on paper.
The bill would require the Ethics Commission to produce indexes of
campaign finance reports, to annually publish a report summarizing
information contained in those reports, and to make information from
those reports available by electronic means. Additionally, the bill
would require the Ethics Commission to make campaign finance reports
available for public inspection not later than the second business day
after receipt.
Methodology
The agency estimates that implementing a 2-day turnaround to make
electronically filed reports available for public inspection, along with
other provisions of the bill, would require 13 new staff. According to
the agency, the bill would require the employment of one (1)
administrative technician to upload reports filed electronically into the
data base and to serve as the contact person for filers who have
technical problems filing electronically; an additional ten (10) data
entry operators to process information from reports filed on paper; and
two (2) new programmers for the maintenance and programming of the
information retrieval and filing system. The bill allows continuation of
the current practice of report filing on paper for filers who do not
collect or expend more than $5,000. In 1998, approximately 3,400 reports
were filed by filers who would, under the bill, continue to file reports
on paper. In order to begin accepting reports by modem by the bill's
effective date, the agency estimates it would be necessary to contract
with vendors at a cost of $250,000 for initial programming.
Local Government Impact
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
LBB Staff: JK, SD, PH, SG