LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session March 15, 2001 TO: Honorable Frank Madla, Chair, Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: SB960 by Brown, J. E. "Buster" (Relating to the salaries of certain justices and judges and to the authority of a county to supplement those salaries.), As Introduced ************************************************************************** * No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. * ************************************************************************** Local Government Impact The bill would remove the limits on local salary supplements paid to justices in the 405 district courts and to justices in the 14 courts of appeals districts. The bill would also repeal the county-specific ranges of salary supplements for district judges as outlined in Chapter 32 of the Government Code and would replace them with statewide monthly compensations without limits. The bill would become effective September 1, 2001. Under current law, counties may vary the supplement to justices in district courts within certain limits. The supplement to the justices of the courts of appeal may not exceed $15,000 a year. The Office of Budget Management in Harris County reported to the Comptroller of Public Accounts that they have 59 district courts and two appeals court districts that employ a total of 75 justices. Under current law, Harris County supplements the district judges a total of $548,700 and the courts of appeal judges, including the chief justice, a total of $83,700 yearly. The county official predicted there would be increased costs to Harris County. The current supplement range for district court judges in Harris County is between $12,000 and $25,000 per year. Assuming no upper limit on total salary for district court judges, the additional cost per year would range between $2,700 and $15,700 for each judge in Harris County. The total additional cost for the 59 judges would range from $159,300 to $926,300 per year. The Dallas County reported to the Comptroller's office that their current total salary supplement to district and county court at law judges is $353,400. Under the proposed bill, if Dallas County raised the district judges' salaries to the salary of the Supreme Court Justices, then it would cost Dallas County an additional $74,000 annually. The required increased supplements to the county court at law judges would then cost an additional $42,000 for a total fiscal impact to the county of $116,000. The Midland County Judge reported there would be no impact to Midland County, but it might affect the smaller counties that are not currently supplementing district judges. The increase in costs would vary by county, depending on the number of courts, judges' salaries, and current levels of supplemental salary provided. Source Agencies: 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts LBB Staff: JK, DB