LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
  
                                May 8, 2001
  
  
          TO:  Honorable James E. "Pete" Laney, Speaker of the House,
               House of Representatives
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB587  by Thompson (Relating to the investigation and
               prosecution of an offense motivated by bias or prejudice
               and to other civil and criminal remedies for and
               protections against certain hateful acts.), As Passed
               2nd House
  
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*  No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.        *
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The Criminal Justice Division of the Office of the Governor has an
existing grant program, the Extraordinary Cost of Prosecution program, to
reimburse counties for the extraordinary costs of capital murder cases,
under which hate-motivated capital murders may be reimbursed.

New community education provisions in the bill require the Office of the
Attorney General, in cooperation with Texas Education Agency, to develop
an instructional program about state laws on hate crimes for school
students (at appropriate grade levels) and for the community at large.
However, neither the Office of the Attorney General nor the Texas
Education Agency anticipates any significant fiscal impact to result from
the adoption of this bill.

Similarly, no significant fiscal impact is associated with new
requirements for training Prosecuting Attorneys on hate crimes
punishment, or the requirement that the Office of the Attorney General
assist in prosecuting hate crimes upon the request of a prosecuting
attorney.

The bill establishes a new criminal offense for violations of orders
enjoining hateful acts.  The first offense under the proposed law is a
Class A misdemeanor. If an individual has been convicted twice or more
of violating orders enjoining hateful acts, then the offense is a third
degree felony. The state could receive additional revenue from court
cost fees as a result of this legislation. However, because the court
cost fees authorized in the Code of Criminal Procedure for offenses
under the Penal Code for Class A misdemeanors and felonies generally do
not exceed $80 per offense, any revenues generated from this legislation
would not be significant.
  
Local Government Impact
  
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated. Eligible counties may receive reimbursement for the costs of
capital murder cases, under which the cost of prosecuting hate-motivated
capital murder crimes can be reimbursed, through an existing state grant
program for Extraordinary Costs of Prosecution.

Local governments could receive additional revenue from the Class A
misdemeanor and third degree felony offenses authorized by the bill.
Using the number of hate motivated offenses reported by the Department
of Public Safety for calendar year 1999 (286 offenses), and assuming all
offenses are Class A misdemeanors and that the fine ranges from $200 to
the $4,000 maximum allowed by state law for Class A misdemeanors,
additional revenues to local governments could range from $57,200 to
$1.1 million per calendar year.  Also, local governments may retain out
of any new state court cost fees resulting from adoption of this
legislation an amount equal to the administrative cost of collecting the
court cost fees.
  
  
Source Agencies:   301   Office of the Governor, 701   Texas Education
                   Agency, 213   Office of the State Prosecuting
                   Attorney, 302   Office of the Attorney General
LBB Staff:         JK, JC, ZS