LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session
May 17, 1999
TO: Honorable Juan Hinojosa, Chair, House Committee on
Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: SB1774 by Zaffirini (Relating to the suspension of a
person's driver's license following the person's arrest
for certain intoxication offenses and to certain
procedures related to that suspension.), Committee
Report 2nd House, as amended
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* SB1774, Committee Report 2nd House, as amended: positive impact *
* of $637,446 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 $(918) *
* 2001 638,364 *
* 2002 638,364 *
* 2003 638,364 *
* 2004 638,364 *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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*Fiscal Probable Probable Revenue Change in Number of *
* Year Savings/(Cost) from Gain/(Loss) from State Employees from *
* General Revenue Fund General Revenue Fund FY 1999 *
* 0001 0001 *
* 2000 $(3,174,083) $3,173,165 62.0 *
* 2001 (2,534,801) 3,173,165 62.0 *
* 2002 (2,534,801) 3,173,165 62.0 *
* 2003 (2,534,801) 3,173,165 62.0 *
* 2004 (2,534,801) 3,173,165 62.0 *
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Technology Impact
The technology impact for the bill is estimated to be $886,988 in FY2000
and $184,698 for each year thereafter.
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Transportation Code to extend the periods of
suspension for the offense of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI). Failure
of a breath test with one or more previous alcohol or drug-related
offenses within a ten year period from the point of arrest (up from 5
years under current law), would result in an extended suspension period
of six months. Refusal to take a breath test would result in an extended
suspension period of six months.
The bill would require the arresting officer in a DWI case to send to the
custody of the Department of Public Safety (DPS) additional information
pertaining to the details of the arrest.
The bill would allow a licensee who is subject to an Administrative
License Revocation (ALR) sanction to make (at the time of the ALR
hearing) a written request for and to automatically receive an
occupational driver's license.
The bill would also increase the cost of an occupational license issued
to a person suspended for DWI or ALR related circumstances from $10 to
$125.
Methodology
The Department's Information Management Service (IMS) would incur an
estimated $422,400 in costs to provide programming for a new database to
track the status of licenses that are forwarded to DPS; to ensure data
exchange capability between the new database and the Driver's License
Host System; and to account for the new driver's license suspension
periods. IMS would need two additional programmers and one database
administrator to assist in carrying out these functions.
The Department's Safety Responsibility Bureau (SRB) would be required to
receive, store and evaluate the status on an estimated 100,000 driver's
licenses each year that DPS would receive from law enforcement officers.
SRB would need 6 employees plus an estimated $162,402 in capital and
operating expenses to handle the additional workload.
It is anticipated that the bill would result in a substantial increase in
workload on the Department s ALR Service and Driver Improvement and
Control Bureau (DIC) due to the bill s authorization of an automatic
occupational license. In Fiscal Year 1998, of the 90,766 persons
affected by ALR actions, only 14,394 (15%) requested hearings. Assuming
that an additional 25% (22,692) of total persons affected would request a
hearing in order to receive the automatic occupational license, the
Department s ALR Service would need 20 Attorney III's, 1 Attorney IV, 4
program administrators and 5 legal secretaries to handle the additional
workload. To support ALR with scheduling, coordinating, and recording
the new hearings, DIC would need 17 additional Administrative Technicians
and 1 Clerical Supervisor .
The bill would generate revenue. The bill would raise the price for an
occupational license from $10 to $125. It is expected that the number
of applications for these licenses would increase because of the bill's
extended driver's license suspension periods (resulting in an estimated
12.5% increase in occupational license requests) and the bill's
automatic occupational license provision. Historically, the Department
has been successful in 80% of the ALR hearings (80% of 22,692 equals
18,153). In 1997 the Department issued 6,921 occupational licenses
(12.5% of 6,921 equals 865). Therefore, it is estimated that the
Department could issue 19,018 additional DWI or ALR related occupational
licenses each year for a revenue increase of $3,173,165, annually.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.
Source Agencies:
LBB Staff: JK, MD