LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
Revision 1
April 8, 2001
TO: Honorable Royce West, Chair, Senate Committee on
Jurisprudence
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: SB1086 by Harris (Relating to the minimum qualifications
of certain persons conducting a social study in a suit
affecting the parent-child relationship.), As Introduced
**************************************************************************
* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* SB1086, As Introduced: negative impact of $(1,734,723) 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. *
**************************************************************************
General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:
****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) *
* Impact to General Revenue Related *
* Funds *
* 2002 $(854,017) *
* 2003 (880,706) *
* 2004 (913,594) *
* 2005 (949,728) *
* 2006 (954,255) *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
***********************************************************************
*Fiscal Probable Probable Probable Probable Change in *
* Year Savings/ Savings/ Savings/ Savings/ Number of *
* (Cost) from (Cost) from (Cost) from (Cost) from State *
* General General Federal Federal Employees *
* Revenue Revenue Funds - Funds - from FY 2001 *
* Fund Fund Federal Federal *
* 0001 0001 0555 0555 *
* 2002 $274,249 $697,230 $(766,227) (23.0) *
* $(1,128,266) *
* 2003 274,637 (1,155,343) 696,842 (784,726) (23.0) *
* 2004 286,846 (1,200,440) 727,818 (817,842) (24.0) *
* 2005 286,846 (1,236,574) 727,818 (840,223) (24.0) *
* 2006 309,396 (1,263,651) 785,035 (858,722) (25.5) *
***********************************************************************
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would require investigators appointed by the court to conduct a
social study to have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or
university and at least 10 years of professionally supervised full-time
experience with the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
Methodology
According to the department, all social studies would be contracted
because no staff meeting the minimum qualifications specified by the bill
would be available to provide this service. This would result in a
savings in FTE positions and related costs, and a cost for the contracted
service. The method-of-finance for the savings would include Medicaid
federal funds because the service would be provided by state employees.
The method-of-finance for the cost would not include Medicaid federal
funds because the service would be provided by contractors (General
Revenue funds would be used in lieu of Medicaid federal funds for the
contracted service).
It is assumed that the number of social studies would be 1,500 for 2002,
1,545 for 2003, 1,591 for 2004, 1,639 for 2005 and 1,688 for 2006.
Foster home studies would comprise approximately two-thirds of the total
number of studies each year and adoptive home studies would comprise
approximately one-third. Each foster home study would require 11.98
hours and each adoptive home study would require 18.24 hours. The
hourly cost would be $90 and the method-of-finance would differ by type
of study.
Local Government Impact
There are four counties that operate a family court services department
that would be affected by the provisions of the bill. A fifth county is
in the process of establishing a similar department. Other counties
contract to have social studies conducted.
According to a supervisor with the Dallas County program, they currently
have a staff of 16, including a supervisor and an assistant manager and
13 licensed social workers; their employment requirements are more
stringent than those currently imposed by the Texas Department of
Protective and Regulatory Services (DPRS). Under the provisions of the
bill, all 13 of their social workers and supervisor would no longer meet
the minimum qualifications for conducting social studies. In order to
phase in meeting the standards, they would have to hire at least 3 to 4
new staff, plus 2 staff per year from turn-over. The minimum hire salary
is $36,048 and the maximum hire rate allowed by the county for those
positions is $43,260. For the more stringent qualifications proposed,
the department would have to request that the county allow the positions
to post at the next higher pay level, which starts at $46,872. The
counties indicated that there are not likely many persons who have the
proposed 10 years experience with DPRS, which could result in under
staffing or no staffing, therefore adding significant costs from
backlogged cases.
The Dallas program conducts over 1,700 social studies per year and
charges $200 per study, although that does not fully cover the costs.
The case studies are court-ordered in private cases. According to the
Dallas officials, their program is similar to those operated in Travis,
Harris, and Tarrant counties and how El Paso is going to structure their
program.
It is anticipated that the fiscal impact would be significant to units of
local government which conduct social studies. In salary increases
alone, from 14 staff at a minimum of $36,000 annually to a staff of 14 at
a minimum of $46,870 annually, the impact is anticipated to be
approximately $152,000 more in salaries per year.
Source Agencies: 530 Department of Protective and Regulatory Services
LBB Staff: JK, TB, NM