LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
April 2, 2001
TO: Honorable Juan Hinojosa, Chair, House Committee on
Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB1726 by Kitchen (Relating to the taking of a blood
sample or other specimen from a person arrested for
certain felonies for the purposes of DNA analysis.), As
Introduced
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB1726, As Introduced: negative impact of $(822,898) 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 $(413,449) *
* 2003 (409,449) *
* 2004 (409,449) *
* 2005 (409,449) *
* 2006 (409,449) *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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*Fiscal Probable Probable Probable Change in *
* Year Revenue Savings/(Cost) Revenue Number of State *
* Gain/(Loss) from General Gain/(Loss) Employees from *
* from Criminal Revenue Fund from Counties FY 2001 *
* Justice 0001 *
* Planning *
* Account/ *
* GR-Dedicated *
* 0421 *
* 2002 $1,773,000 $(413,449) $197,000 2.0 *
* 2003 2,367,000 (409,449) 263,000 2.0 *
* 2004 2,367,000 (409,449) 263,000 2.0 *
* 2005 2,367,000 (409,449) 263,000 2.0 *
* 2006 2,367,000 (409,449) 263,000 2.0 *
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Fiscal Analysis
The bill would establish a program of taking a blood sample or other
specimen from persons charged with certain felony offenses, or from
persons placed on community supervision for certain felony offenses, for
the purpose of DNA testing and creating a DNA record.
The bill would establish a court cost of $250 on each conviction or
deferred adjudication of certain felony offenses requiring DNA testing.
Ten percent of this court cost would be retained by the local government
with the remaining ninety percent being forwarded to the Comptroller's
Office for deposit into the Criminal Justice Planning Account. Money in
this account could be appropriated by the Legislature to the Criminal
Justice Division of the Governor's Office to be distributed in grant form
to local law enforcement agencies.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2001.
Methodology
Based on estimates of court cost revenue found in the Biennial Revenue
Estimate and the Annual Report of the Texas Judicial System, the
Comptroller's Office estimates that the $250 court cost will generate
revenue of $1.97 million in fiscal year 2002 and $2.63 million in
subsequent fiscal years. Ten percent of this revenue would be retained
by counties while the remaining 90 percent would be remitted to the state
for deposit into the Criminal Justice Planning Account.
The Department of Public Safety (DPS) estimates that 8,600 individuals
would be covered by this bill annually. The specimens would be sent by
DPS to a contract lab for analysis at $30 per specimen for a total cost
of $258,000. Supplies required for each sample to be obtained, mailed,
recorded and controlled would be $7 per sample for a total cost of
$60,200. Two additional personnel would be required to process the
specimens and enter the information into the database, as well as
perform quality control checks on analyses completed by the contract
laboratory. Salaries for these individuals would be $64,692 with
associated personnel benefits of $18,295 each fiscal year. Operating
expenses would run $8,262 each year. There would be a one-time cost for
training of $4,000 in fiscal year 2002.
Local Government Impact
Revenues to local governments statewide would be equivalent to the 10
percent collection fee for timely remittal to the state, estimated by
the Comptroller's Office to be $197,000 in fiscal year 2002 and $263,000
per year in the following four fiscal years. The collection fee is
estimated to offset the costs for obtaining forensic samples.
Source Agencies: 405 Texas Department of Public Safety, 304
Comptroller of Public Accounts
LBB Staff: JK, JC, JN, DG, DB