LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
  
                              April 1, 2001
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Frank Madla, Chair, Senate Committee on
               Intergovernmental Relations
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  SB1128  by Bernsen (Relating to landscaping and
               billboards along highways; imposing a civil penalty.), As
               Introduced
  
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*  No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.        *
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The bill would amend the Transportation Code to require the Texas
Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to consider certain factors when
developing transportation projects involving the construction,
reconstruction, rehabilitation, or resurfacing of a highway other than a
maintenance resurfacing project.  TxDOT would be required to allocate at
least one percent of the contract costs to the district in which the
project was located for landscape improvements.  A new dedicated
Landscape Enhancement Account would be created in the General Revenue
Fund and would consist of money transferred to the account by the
Legislature, gifts, grants, contributions received by TxDOT, and
penalties.  Funds in the account could only be appropriated to TxDOT for
the purposes of landscaping.

The bill would amend the Local Government Code to prohibit municipalities
from relocating or reconstructing a billboard in violation of
Transportation Code guidelines and would prohibit, with some exceptions,
the erection, repair or rebuilding of a billboard that was substantially
destroyed. The bill would allow the designation of protected highways or
portions of highways along which a billboard could not be relocated.

The bill would establish a civil penalty for highway billboard violations
in an amount between $500 and $1,000 for each violation.  The bill would
allow the Attorney General, a district or county attorney, or a
municipal attorney to file a suit and collect a penalty.  All penalties
collected by the Attorney General would be deposited into the
newly-created account and any penalties collected through suits from a
district, county, or  municipal attorney would be equally divided
between the state and the applicable county or municipality.  It is
assumed that penalty collections would not generate a significant amount
of revenue for the State. The bill would take effect September 1, 2001.
  
Local Government Impact
  
The bill would require 50 percent of any penalties collected through
suits from a district, county, or a municipal attorney to be retained by
the applicable county or municipality.  It is assumed that no
significant fiscal implication to units of local government would be
realized.
  
  
Source Agencies:   302   Office of the Attorney General, 601   Texas
                   Department of Transportation, 304   Comptroller of
                   Public Accounts
LBB Staff:         JK, DB, RT, MW