LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 78TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 10, 2003

TO:	Honorable Harold V. Dutton, Jr., Chair, House Committee on Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
FROM:	John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB47 by Turner (Relating to the office of advocate for children in the custody of a governmental entity.), As Introduced

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB47, As Introduced: a positive impact of $11,987,530 through the biennium ending August 31, 2005.

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
2004	$4,753,173
2005	$7,234,357
2006	$8,026,357
2007	$8,898,357
2008	$9,862,357

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable (Cost) from GENERAL REVENUE FUND 1	Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from GENERAL REVENUE FUND 1	Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2003
2004	($337,827)	$5,091,000	5.0
2005	($273,643)	$7,508,000	5.0
2006	($273,643)	$8,300,000	5.0
2007	($273,643)	$9,172,000	5.0
2008	($273,643)	$10,136,000	5.0

Fiscal Analysis

This bill establishes the University of Houston Center for Youth Policy Development and establishes the Director of the Center as the Child Advocate for children in custody.

This bill would amend the Family Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to impose an additional court cost of $1 for Section 54.04, Family Code disposition hearings, and an additional $1 court cost on persons convicted of an offense described under Code of Criminal Procedure Section 102.075.  County clerks would remit, quarterly and after retaining a 10 percent of the funds as a service fee and any interest earned, the costs collected to the Comptroller for deposit to the newly created GR account, which would be dedicated to the establishment and operation of the Office of Advocate for Children at the University of Houston Center for Youth Policy Development. 

Methodology

Based on the analysis by the Comptroller of Public Accounts the increased revenues from the new Code of Criminal Procedure court cost are based on data from the 2004-05 Biennial Revenue Estimate, adjusted for offenses committed and adjudicated after the effective date and deducting 10 percent administration fee that would be retained by local governments. Revenues by local government were based on the 10 percent collection fee for timely remittal to the Comptroller. 

Some costs would occur for the University of Houston System.  The costs represent five new FTE's, Director, Assistant Director, Secretary, PhD Graduate Assistant, and a Department Business Administrator, to administer the Center and its associated start up costs for equipment and on-going operating expenses.  The costs for the Center could vary depending on the workload of the Child Advocate and the number of support personnel necessary. 

Technology

The Comptroller would incure a technology cost in fiscal year 2004 related to programming work necessary to add new line items on reports and changes to disbursal.

Local Government Impact

County clerks would retain a 10% timely remittance fee collected on the new additional court costs.  This 10% would provide a statewide gain of $566,000 (FY04), $834,000 (FY05), $922,000 (FY06), $1,019,000 (FY07), and $1,126,000 (FY08) according to estimates provided by the Comptroller of Public Accounts. 

Source Agencies:	405 Department of Public Safety, 530 Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, 665 Juvenile Probation Commission, 694 Youth Commission, 783 University of Houston System Administration, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts
LBB Staff:	JK, JO, GO, PF, SS, KG