LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
February 21, 2001
TO: Honorable Toby Goodman, Chair, House Committee on
Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB769 by King, Phil (relating to fees imposed in certain
child support cases. ), Committee Report 1st House,
Substituted
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB769, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: positive impact *
* of $0 through the biennium ending August 31, 2003. *
* *
* The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal *
* basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of *
* the bill. *
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General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:
****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) *
* Impact to General Revenue Related *
* Funds *
* 2002 $0 *
* 2003 0 *
* 2004 0 *
* 2005 0 *
* 2006 0 *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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*Fiscal Probable Savings/(Cost) from Change in Number of State *
* Year Federal Funds - Federal Employees from FY 2001 *
* 0555 *
* 2002 $(5,388,224) 0.0 *
* 2003 (5,657,642) 0.0 *
* 2004 (5,940,515) 0.0 *
* 2005 (6,237,545) 0.0 *
* 2006 (6,549,424) 0.0 *
***************************************************************************
Fiscal Analysis
The bill amends the Family Code to require the state's Title IV-D agency,
the Office of the Attorney General, to pay a $15 fee for each
administrative writ of withholding for child support that is filed.
The filing fee would be paid on all new writs filed after September 1,
2001.
Methodology
The Attorney General estimates that 544,265 administrative writs of
withholding will be filed in fiscal year 2002, and will increase by 5%
each year. The cost for the $15 fee would total a projected $8.2
million in fiscal year 2002, increasing to a total of $9.9 million in
fiscal year 2006. State child support enforcement expenditures are
generally funded with two-thirds federal funds and one-third state
funds; therefore, the state's share of the cost would be $2.8 million in
fiscal year 2002 and increase to $3.4 million in fiscal year 2006.
However, under another provision of the Family Code, the OAG is released
from the requirement to pay the state's share of any filing fees and
related court costs for child support cases. Instead, the OAG only
passes on the federal government's two-thirds contribution to the local
governments. As a result, the only impact on the state's budget is an
increase in the expenditure of federal funds.
Local Government Impact
The local county governments would receive the federal contributions
towards filing fees passed on by the OAG, totaling $5.4 million in
fiscal year 2002, increasing to $6.5 million in fiscal year 2006.
Source Agencies: 302 Office of the Attorney General, 304
Comptroller of Public Accounts
LBB Staff: JK, JC, SC