LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
  
                              April 10, 2001
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Tom Ramsay, Chair, House Committee on County
               Affairs
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB370  by Hinojosa (Relating to the fees imposed by
               certain counties for the preservation, restoration, and
               management of certain county records.), Committee Report
               1st House, Substituted
  
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*  No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.                    *
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Local Government Impact
  
The bill would authorize the commissioners court in counties adjacent to
an international boundary to adopt as part of the county's annual budget
a records archive fee, not to exceed $5, for each public document filed.
The fees collected would be placed into a separate records archive
account in the general fund of the county for expending only for records
management and preservation, including automation purposes, of the county
clerk's records archive. The county clerk would be required to prepare
an annual written plan for funding the automation projects and records
management and preservation services. The plan would be considered in a
public hearing by the commissioners court after posting notice of the
hearing.  The commissioners court may not order collection of the fee
after the county records archive preservation and restoration is
complete. The records archive fee statute would expire on September 1,
2008.  The bill would take effect on September 1, 2001.

The county clerk's office was contacted in several border counties
regarding the impact of the provisions of the bill.  Each county
responding currently collects a $5 document management fee for
maintaining and preserving current documents, although in most cases, the
fee is not sufficient to also restore or preserve archived documents, an
issue of concern to the smaller counties.

An official with El Paso County indicated the county clerk files between
98,000 and 100,000 documents a year.  If the additional records archive
fee were to be charged, it would generate an additional $50,000 in
revenue annually.

The County Clerk in Jeff Davis County said an additional $5 fee would
generate approximately $3,600 in additional revenue and would cover most
of the costs for restoring and preserving older documents.

The County Clerk in Val Verde County estimated that an additional $5 fee
would produce an additional $24,000 per year.

Eligible counties that would choose to adopt the additional records
archive fee at the maximum allowable amount would experience a positive
revenue gain that would allow them to restore and preserve their
archived documents.  The amount generated would vary depending on the
number of records filed; however, the gain is expected to cover most of
the costs associated with the restoration and preservation of the
records.
  
  
Source Agencies:   
LBB Staff:         JK, DB