LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session February 16, 2001 TO: Honorable David Swinford, Chair, House Committee on Agriculture & Livestock FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB788 by Swinford (Relating to value-added processing of agricultural goods into fuel ethanol and biodiesel and the fuel ethanol and biodiesel incentive program.), As Introduced ************************************************************************** * Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for * * HB788, As Introduced: negative impact of $(10,000,000) 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. * ************************************************************************** General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact: **************************************************** * Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) * * Impact to General Revenue Related * * Funds * * 2002 $0 * * 2003 (10,000,000) * * 2004 (20,000,000) * * 2005 (30,000,000) * * 2006 (40,000,000) * **************************************************** All Funds, Five-Year Impact: ***************************************************** * Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) from * * General Revenue Fund * * 0001 * * 2002 $0 * * 2003 (10,000,000) * * 2004 (20,000,000) * * 2005 (30,000,000) * * 2006 (40,000,000) * ***************************************************** Fiscal Analysis The bill would create a production incentive grant program to be administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture to promote value-added processing of agricultural products into motor fuel. The bill would require the Texas Department of Agriculture to pay producers $0.20 for each gallon of fuel ethanol or biodiesel produced in each registered plant in Texas. This would continue until the tenth anniversary of production from that plant. After fiscal year 2004, a producer could not receive payments on more than 30 million gallons of fuels produced at any one registered plant. The bill would create the dedicated General Revenue Account - Fuel Ethanol and Biodiesel Production Account, within the General Revenue Fund. The account would have General Revenue transferred to the account to fund the grants. Methodology Currently, Texas has no ethanol plants and no plants are scheduled to go into production. It takes 12 to 18 months for an ethanol plant to become operational, so fiscal year 2003 is the earliest that grants could be paid out for ethanol production in Texas. According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, the State of Minnesota has a similar program that has 14 ethanol plants and produces incentives of $35 million per year that pay for approximately 245 million gallons of ethanol. Using the State of Minnesota's program as a comparison factor, the Department of Agriculture estimates three plants would be operational by fiscal year 2003 producing a total of 50 million gallons of ethanol. In fiscal year 2004, six plants would produce 100 million gallons of ethanol. In fiscal year 2005, production would increase to 150 million gallons at nine plants and by fiscal year 2006 twelve plants would produce 200 million gallons. Based on how the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) administers its ethanol grant program, the Department of Agriculture estimates that they could administer the program with current funds and FTEs. The MDA receives production reports from plants that are accompanied by a statement from an independent certified public accounting firm to verify production numbers. The MDA issues checks based on these production reports. Local Government Impact No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated. Source Agencies: 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 551 Texas Department of Agriculture LBB Staff: JK, CL, GS