HBA-SEP C.S.H.B. 1618 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1618 By: Allen Criminal Jurisprudence 4/12/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the $100 fee for reinstatement of a person's suspended driver's license under an administrative license revocation proceeding is appropriated to the Department of Public Safety (DPS). Subsequently, DPS uses a portion of the reinstatement funds to contract with the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) to conduct hearings. This puts DPS in the position of collecting and holding fees procured from individuals who the agency is charging under revocation proceedings then using those funds to contract with SOAH to hear the case. C.S.H.B. 1618 removes the necessity of the contract by increasing the fee to $125 and authorizing $25 of the fee to be directly appropriated to the SOAH. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B.1618 amends the Transportation Code to increase, from $100 to $125, the fee that accompanies the reinstatement of a driver's license or the issuance of another driver's license to a person whose driver's license was suspended for failing to pass a test for intoxication or refusing to consent to the taking of a specimen. The bill authorizes $25 of these fees to be appropriated only to the State Office of Administrative Hearings. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 1618 modifies the original to remove the condition that the specified portion of the collected fee that is appropriated only to the State Office of Administrative Hearings be used to cover the costs of hearings relating to the suspension of a driver's license for failing to pass a test for intoxication and refusing to consent to the taking of a specimen.