LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session February 2, 2001 TO: Honorable Rene Oliveira, Chair, House Committee on Ways & Means FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB255 by Ellis, Dan (Relating to exempting members of certain emergency service organizations from the hotel occupancy tax.), As Introduced ************************************************************************** * No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. * ************************************************************************** The bill would amend Chapter 156 of the Tax Code to exempt certain members of emergency service organizations from the hotel occupancy tax. Such persons would be exempted from the municipal and county occupancy taxes, as well. The exemption would apply specifically to members of a volunteer fire department or any other department or association organized for the purpose of answering fire alarms or extinguishing fires. To be eligible for the exemption, the member would have to work without compensation or only nominal compensation and would have to be training outside the member's county of residence or assisting another department or association. Data were gathered from the Texas Association of Fire Fighters and from the Texas A&M Fire Training School on the number of volunteer fire fighters in the state of Texas and the required training, location of training, and frequency of training. These data were used to estimate the number of volunteer fire fighters that travel out of their county for training and the annual number of hotel night stays associated with that training. Data from the Texas Department of Economic Development were used to determine the state average cost of a hotel night. This cost was then applied to the estimated number of hotel night stays and the applicable state and local tax rates. It was determined that there would be no significant fiscal impact for the state and local governments. Local Government Impact No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated. Source Agencies: 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts LBB Staff: JK, SD, SM