LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
March 5, 2001
TO: Honorable Bob Turner, Chair, House Committee on Public
Safety
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB433 by Driver (Relating to county and municipal
enforcement of commercial motor vehicle safety
standards.), As Introduced
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* No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. *
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Technology Impact
The Department of Public Safety (DPS) estimates that implementing
provisions of this bill would require technology purchases to handle the
additional volume of inspection data reported to the DPS Motor Carrier
Bureau. Technology purchases would be required for DPS Traffic Law
Enforcement Division for the purpose of establishing and running the
necessary training program as well as certifying the additional
officers. The purchases would include desktop and laptop computers,
software, and servers.
Local Government Impact
The bill would allow a sheriff or deputy sheriff to become licensed by
the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to enforce commercial motor vehicle
safety standards. The bill would also remove the eligibility
requirements that allow only certain cities to participate in the
program. Additionally, the bill would allow any police officer in a
municipality to become certified regardless of location or population
parameters. In each fiscal year, the same as current law applies to
municipalities, a county would be allowed to retain fines from the
enforcement of motor carrier safety violations in an amount not to exceed
110 percent of the county's actual expenses to enforce the violations
from the preceding fiscal year. The county, as cities already are, would
be required to send to the Comptroller of Public Accounts the proceeds
of all fines that exceed 110 percent of the enforcement costs. The bill
would become effective September 1, 2001.
Currently, there are police officers in 16 cities participating in this
program. Two of the 16 participating cities provided information on their
commercial motor safety programs to the Comptroller:
The finance manager for the City of Pasadena reported that in fiscal year
1999, costs of enforcement totaled $433,696 while revenues from the fine
collections totaled $183,413 in fiscal year 2000. The City of Pasadena
has never reported excess fines to the Comptroller's Office since their
participation in the program began in April 1996.
The court administrator for the City of Houston reported that in fiscal
year 1999, costs reached a total of nearly $1.5 million, which included
computer equipment, inspection equipment, vehicles, salaries and
benefits, maintenance fuel, communications, and supplies. The revenue
collected for the first three quarters in fiscal year 2000 was $148,780.
He also reported that fines have never exceeded costs of enforcement
since they began participating in the program in 1995.
Based on the information received from two of the sixteen participating
cities, costs of enforcement would exceed revenue generated from fines
from commercial motor carrier violations in most cases. Fine revenue and
enforcement costs would vary by city.
For cities that do not already have officers trained and certified in the
enforcement of commercial vehicle safety standards, initial
implementation of the program would include the cost of having officers
trained and certified, plus any costs incurred if additional officers
were to be hired for this program. Training costs per officer include
$8 per day for room and board at the DPS Training Academy, $2.50 per day
for training materials, and $25 per test. The total for the complete
training and certification is $340 per officer, plus any other out of
town travel expenses that may apply.
Source Agencies: 405 Texas Department of Public Safety, 304
Comptroller of Public Accounts
LBB Staff: JK, JC, DG, DB