LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
May 2, 2001
TO: Honorable Florence Shapiro, Chair, Senate Committee on
State Affairs
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: SB853 by Harris (Relating to service of citation and
publication of certain notices required by law.),
Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* SB853, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: negative impact *
* of $(411,260) 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:
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* Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) *
* Impact to General Revenue Related *
* Funds *
* 2002 $(430,374) *
* 2003 19,114 *
* 2004 19,114 *
* 2005 19,114 *
* 2006 19,114 *
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All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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*Fiscal Probable Revenue Probable Change in Number of *
* Year Gain/(Loss) from Savings/(Cost) from State Employees from *
* General Revenue Fund General Revenue Fund FY 2001 *
* 0001 0001 *
* 2002 $100,000 $(530,374) 2.0 *
* 2003 150,000 (130,886) 2.0 *
* 2004 150,000 (130,886) 2.0 *
* 2005 150,000 (130,886) 2.0 *
* 2006 150,000 (130,886) 2.0 *
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Technology Impact
Oracle Database: $270,000
Annual maintenance: 54,000
Hardware, web server: 20,000
Annual maintenance: 4,000
Software, Oracle Application Server: 6,700
Annual maintenance: 1,350
Development programming services: 90,000
Annual maintenance: 18,000
Total: $464,100
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would require the Secretary of State (SOS) to establish an
Internet site on which a person may publish a notice or serve a citation
that a state statute or rule requires to be published or served on the
Internet. The bill amends both general provisions regarding publication
of notice and specific provisions. The bill provides SOS with rulemaking
authority to determine the methods by which a person may submit notices,
and authority to reject notices that are not required by law to be
published. The bill provides the SOS with authority to establish
reasonable fees to administer the section.
Methodology
According to the SOS, development and implementation costs are estimated
to be $530,374. This estimate includes two FTEs, (Admin. Tech III
$25,932 annual salary plus approximately $15,000 in benefits). An
additional estimated $1,600 each year would be needed for operating
expenses, and $12,700 would be needed for other capital costs in the
first year. The cost also includes the necessary computer hardware and
software, as well as programming services. For each year following
implementation, annual computer maintenance costs are estimated to be
$77,350.00
The SOS database would include a secure financial transaction feature
allowing users to pay any publication fees on-line with a credit card.
Users would also have the option to pay fees by telephone or mail. Two
FTEs would be employed to explain filing procedures and assist with
posting of notices. This analysis uses information from the
Internet-based open meetings database developed for the SOS in 1999.
SOS assumes that the internet postings are not mandatory. SOS estimates
that there may be 30,000 postings per year and that the fee charged
would be $5.00. In the first year, revenues would be $100,000 since the
bill would be effective for eight months, January 1 through August 31.
In subsequent years, the fee revenue would be $150,000.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.
Source Agencies: 307 Secretary of State
LBB Staff: JK, RB, SK