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
  
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*  No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.                    *
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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