LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
  
                              April 19, 2001
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Kenneth Armbrister, Chair, Senate Committee on
               Criminal Justice
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB1287  by Thompson (Relating to the establishment of
               drug court programs and to a study of drug court programs
               by the Criminal Justice Policy Council.), As Engrossed
  
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*  No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.        *
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The bill would authorize county commissioners courts to establish a drug
court program for certain offenders.  The program must include the 10 key
components defined by the Office of Justice Programs of the U.S.
Department of Justice. The Criminal Justice Division of the Office of the
Governor would have oversight authority over the operations, management,
and financial practices of the drug court programs established under the
provisions of the bill.  The Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the
House could also assign certain oversight functions to appropriate
legislative committees.  Additionally, a legislative committee could
request that the State Auditor's Office perform a management, operations,
or financial or accounting audit of the programs.

The bill would authorize the drug court program to collect a program fee
from the participants, not to exceed $1,000 and that could be paid on a
deferred payment schedule, as well as various other fees to help recover
the costs of the program, urinalysis testing, and counseling.

Drug court programs could also collect a one-time fee of $10 from
offenders placed on community supervision for a drug or alcohol related
offense.  Those fees collected would be deposited into the county general
revenue fund for use by and support of the county drug court program.

The Criminal Justice Policy Council (CJPC) would be required to conduct a
study on the effectiveness of the drug court program and submit a report
on their findings to the Speaker of the House, the Lieutenant Governor,
and various legislative committees by January 15, 2003.

Not later than September 1, 2002, the county commissioners court in a
county with a population exceeding 383,000 residents, based on the 1990
U.S. census, would be required to establish a drug court program that
complies with the provisions of the statute.  If a drug court program
developed under the auspices of the proposed Chapter 469 of the Health
and Safety Code does not have at least 100 participants in the first four
months of operation, the program would be ineligible for state
supplements under the professional prosecutor's law or for any state
grants administered by the Criminal Justice Division of the Office of the
Governor during the third and fourth quarters of fiscal year 2003.

The Act would take effect on September 1, 2001.  The section of the
proposed statute that would require a study and report by the CJPC would
expire on June 1, 2003.
  
Local Government Impact
  
There are three drug court programs already in existence in Texas, with
two counties planning to start a program in the next year. The programs
operate using grants from various sources and to a lesser degree, using
fees collected from program participants.  For fiscal year 2001, budgets
for the the existing facilities range from $312,630 to $526,011 and are
anticipated to increase over the next two fiscal years.  For example, the
budget in Montgomery County is expected to reach $347,000 in the next
biennium and the program in Jeffreson County is projected to reach
$693,750.

According to the Texas Drug Court Association (TDCA), the program
provides savings to other areas of the justice system, although the
savings do not totally offset the costs. TDCA indicates the savings are
realized by reduced up front jail time and that participants usually
remain in the drug court program 14 to 16 months, as opposed to the
alternative sentence of spending two years in a state jail facility or
five years on community supervision.

A county establishing and operating a drug court program could expect to
incur costs starting around $300,000 annually.  Costs would vary
depending on the level of need for the program based on the potential
number of eligible participants.  Those costs would be offset to some
degree by fees collected from participants, fees collected from
offenders on community supervision for drug or alcohol related offenses,
and grants.
  
  
Source Agencies:   308   State Auditor's Office, 410   Criminal Justice
                   Policy Council, 301   Office of the Governor
LBB Staff:         JK, JC, TB, DB