LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session
  
                              March 26, 1999
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Rodney Ellis, Chair, Senate Committee on
               Jurisprudence
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  SB799  by Ellis, Rodney (Relating to the administration
               and operation of a pretrial services office and to the
               imposition of certain fees and costs.), As Introduced
  
**************************************************************************
*  No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.                    *
**************************************************************************
  
Local Government Impact
  
The bill would set the fee on personal bonds at $30.  Currently the fee
is set at the greater of 3 percent or $20.  The bill would also require a
defendant to pay between $25 and $40 a month when under supervision of a
pretrial services office.  Courts would possess the discretion to waive
either fee if good cause is shown.  The bill would allow the court to
require the defendant to pay costs incurred in electronic monitoring,
urinalysis, interlock ignition devices and other services relating to the
supervision of the defendant.

Seventeen counties currently operate pretrial services offices, and
therefore would be impacted by the bill.  The fiscal impact would vary
based on the decisions of the courts in regard to the fees.  However, the
fiscal impact is likely to be positive.  Four of the five counties
surveyed by the Office of the Comptroller reported a potential positive
impact ranging from $12,000 (Dallas) to $702,000 (Bexar).  One county
surveyed, Galveston, reported a negative impact of ($150,000) as the
director of pretrial services for that county reported that the judges
would be unlikely to assess the optional fees due to the difficulty in
collecting fees that are not collected up front.
  
  
Source Agencies:   
LBB Staff:         JK, PE, DG