LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session April 10, 2001 TO: Honorable Juan Hinojosa, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB2740 by Turner, Bob (Relating to the distribution of money to certain counties for the payment of extraordinary costs of prosecution.), As Introduced ************************************************************************** * No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. * ************************************************************************** The proposed bill amends the statutory authority for an existing criminal justice grant program, the Extraordinary Costs of Prosecution program. This program provides eligible counties with financial reimbursement for the cost of prosecuting capital murder cases. Proposed bill deletes statutory requirements that limited eligibility of counties for the program. Local Government Impact The Governor's Criminal Justice Division currently awards grants to counties for the cost of prosecuting capital murder cases. Funds allocated for these grants in the 2000-2001 biennium total $2.4 million. Two million dollars and any unexpended balances in funds allocated for the program during the 2000-01 biennium will be available for this program during the 2002-03 biennium. According to the Governor's Criminal Justice Division, some of the existing statutory requirements that restricted use of program by counties include: population requirement; eligible counties must either have a budget deficit, or the cost of prosecuting the capital murder case must exceed 5 percent of the county's budget surplus; defense costs are not an eligible grant expense. As a result, to date the Governor's Criminal Justice Division has awarded less than $500,000 of the $2.4 million available for the program. Statutory changes made by proposed bill are expected to increase the number of grants awarded to counties that prosecute capital murder cases. Source Agencies: 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 301 Office of the Governor LBB Staff: JK, JC, ZS