LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
April 4, 2001
TO: Honorable Debra Danburg, Chair, House Committee on
Elections
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB2639 by Dutton (Relating to the inclusion of an
incarcerated person in the population data used for
redistricting according to the person's last residence
before incarceration.), As Introduced
**************************************************************************
* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB2639, As Introduced: negative impact of $(300,000) 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 $(300,000) *
* 2003 0 *
* 2004 0 *
* 2005 0 *
* 2006 0 *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
*****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) from *
* General Revenue Fund *
* 0001 *
* 2002 $(300,000) *
* 2003 0 *
* 2004 0 *
* 2005 0 *
* 2006 0 *
*****************************************************
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend Chapter 2058 of the Government Code, relating to the
inclusion of incarcerated persons in the population data used for
redistricting purposes.
The bill would require the Comptroller's office to prepare and
disseminate an adjusted version of the redistricting population data for
each geographic unit no later that September 1st, following the release
of decennial census data for use in redistricting. The adjustment would
allocate the population count of persons housed in a federal, state, or
local correctional facility, or in a mental institution, at the time of
the decennial census, and who were counted as residing in that facility
in the decennial census.
The bill would require each state and local governmental entity that
operated a facility housing prisoners to submit a report no later than
June 1st following the release of decennial census data to the
Comptroller's office showing for each prisoner: the prisoners name; age;
gender; race; ethnicity; and last residence address before incarceration.
The Comptroller's office would request the same information from federal
agencies operating correctional facilities in Texas.
The bill would require that no later than October 1, 2001, the state and
local governmental entities noted above would provide the Comptroller's
office with the report for prisoners incarcerated on April 1, 2000; and
no later than January 1, 2002, the Comptroller's office would prepare
and disseminate the adjusted population counts. This provision would
expire January 1, 2003.
Methodology
The Comptroller's office anticipates a one-time administrative cost of
$300,000 in general revenue in fiscal year 2002 for consultant services.
According to the Comptroller's office, the consultants would collect the
prisoner data from federal, state, and local correctional facilities,
analyze the prisoner data to determine which records could become a
portion of the adjustment database, assign each prisoner address to a
unit of census geography (tracks and blocks) and enter all the data into
a computerized prisoner database. The consultants would also aggregate
the prisoner data into totals for each census geographic unit
(maintaining detail for age, sex, race, and ethnicity), and prepare and
disseminate data files for state and local governmental entities to use
in redistricting.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated. Dallas county, McClennan county, and Brazos county were
contacted. Local officials indicated the cost for extra staff time and
compilation of the report would be minimal in relation to their overall
expenditures.
Source Agencies: 694 Texas Youth Commission, 655 TX Dept. of
Mental Health & Mental Retardation, 409 Texas
Commission on Jail Standards, 696 Texas Department
of Criminal Justice, 304 Comptroller of Public
Accounts
LBB Staff: JK, TB, JC, DW