LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

                              Austin, Texas

                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session

                              April 29, 2001

          TO:  Honorable Florence Shapiro, Chair, Senate Committee on

               State Affairs

        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board

       IN RE:  SB1809  by Zaffirini (Relating to the issuance of permits

               for the operation of oversize and overweight vehicles on

               certain highways by the City of Laredo; providing a

               penalty.), As Introduced

**************************************************************************

*  Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for    *

*  SB1809, As Introduced:  positive impact of $0 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                                   $0  *

          *       2003                                    0  *

          *       2004                                    0  *

          *       2005                                    0  *

          *       2006                                    0  *

          ****************************************************

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

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*Fiscal    Probable Savings/(Cost) from    Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss)   *

* Year          State Highway Fund           from State Highway Fund      *

*                      0006                            0006               *

*  2002                      $(4,590,000)                      $1,312,500 *

*  2003                      (45,900,000)                       1,365,000 *

*  2004                                 0                       1,443,750 *

*  2005                                 0                       1,522,500 *

*  2006                                 0                         762,195 *

***************************************************************************

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would amend the Transportation Code to allow the Texas

Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to authorize the City of Laredo to

issue permits for the movement of oversize or overweight vehicles

carrying cargo on certain roads and bridges.  The bill would prohibit

TxDOT from authorizing the issuance of a permit for the movement of

equipment and commodities with a gross weight of more than 125,000

pounds.  The bill would require permits to include certain information

and to specify the time in which movement authorized by the permit is

allowed.  The bill would also require the City of Laredo to report all

permits issued under the bill to TxDOT.

The bill would authorize permit fees collected to be used only to fund

the maintenance of certain state highways in accordance with the

provisions of the bill.  The bill would provide that the permit fee would

be the same as the  permit fee issued by TxDOT for oversize or

overweight vehicles under Chapter 623 of the Transportation Code. The

bill would also prohibit the City of Laredo from collecting an extra fee

for issuing a permit and would require that fees collected under the

provisions of the bill be deposited to the credit of the State Highway

Fund.

The bill would prohibit movement authorized by a permit from exceeding

the lesser of the posted speed limit or 55 miles per hour and would make

an offense under the provisions of the bill a Class C misdemeanor and a

moving violation.  The bill would authorizes the Department of Public

Safety to enforce the provisions of the bill.

The bill would take effect September 1, 2001 and the provisions of the

bill would expire March 1, 2005.

Methodology

TxDOT estimates that 4 lanes of road for 17.8 miles on FM 1472 would have

to be replaced within 18 months of the first issuance of the permits due

to the road's current condition and the fact that it was originally

constructed with flexible pavement.  TxDOT estimates that replacement

costs of approximately $4.5 million for preliminary design and

engineering in fiscal year 2002 and approximately $45.9 million ($645,000

per lane mile) in fiscal year 2003 would be realized with the

implementation of the bill.

TxDOT estimates that 50 trucks would purchase these permits each day for

250 days in fiscal year 2002 and that the permit fee would be $105, which

is currently the average permit fee for overweight vehicles at the Port

of Brownsville.  For the purposes of this analysis, it is estimated that

the number of days and fee would remain constant throughout fiscal year

2006 and that number of permits would increase by approximately 4 percent

in fiscal year 2003 and by approximately 5 percent in each following

year through March 1, 2005.

No significant fiscal implication is anticipated for DPS.

Local Government Impact

No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is

anticipated.

Source Agencies:   601   Texas Department of Transportation, 405   Texas

                   Department of Public Safety, 304   Comptroller of

                   Public Accounts

LBB Staff:         JK, RB, MW, DW