LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
  
                             February 6, 2001
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Kenneth Armbrister, Chair, Senate Committee on
               Criminal Justice
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  SB87  by Ellis, Rodney (Relating to the investigation and
               prosecution of an offense motivated by bias or prejudice
               and to other remedies for and protections against
               certain hateful acts.), As Introduced
  
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*  No significant fiscal impact is anticipated.                          *
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The Criminal Justice Division of the Office of the Governor has an
existing grant program, the Extraordinary Cost of Prosecution program, to
reimburse counties for the extraordinary costs of capital murder cases,
under which hate-motivated capital murders may be reimbursed.

Under this bill, the Office of the Attorney General would be authorized
to assist in the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes upon the
request of the prosecuting attorney.  The Office of the Attorney General
anticipates no significant fiscal impact to result from the adoption of
this legislation.  Similarly, the State Auditor's Office can absorb
within current resources any additional audits resulting from the
adoption of this legislation.

Additional Class A and Class B misdemeanor fines would be authorized by
this legislation.  Using the number of hate motivated offenses reported
by the Department of Public Safety for calendar year 1999 (286
offenses), and assuming an equal distribution between Class A and Class
B misdemeanors and fines in the amount of $300 to the $4,000 maximum for
Class A misdemeanors and $150 to the $2,000 maximum for Class B
misdemeanors, additional revenues could range from $64,000 to $715,000
per calendar year.  Of this amount, 90 percent would be collected by the
State of Texas, and 10 percent would be retained by local governments.
  
Local Government Impact
  
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.  Under an existing state grant program, eligible counties
may receive reimbursement for the extraordinary costs of capital murder
cases, under which the cost of prosecuting hate-motivated capital murder
crimes can be reimbursed. Local governments would receive 10 percent of
any additional revenue from misdemeanor fines resulting from the
adoption of this legislation.
  
  
Source Agencies:   301   Office of the Governor, 302   Office of the
                   Attorney General, 308   State Auditor's Office, 304
                   Comptroller of Public Accounts
LBB Staff:         JK, JC, MF, ZS