LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 78TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
February 26, 2003

TO:
Honorable Frank Corte, Chair, House Committee on Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations
 
FROM:
John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB545 by Wohlgemuth (Relating to making a military discharge record that a veteran has recorded with the county clerk a confidential record for a period of 50 years and limiting the disclosure and use of the record.), As Introduced

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend Section 192.002, Local Government Code, to make a military discharge record confidential for 50 years following the date it is recorded. The bill would allow for the inspection or copying of a record in certain circumstances. The bill would take effect immediately if it received two-thirds votes in each house; otherwise, it would take effect September 1, 2003.

Local Government Impact

Several county clerks' offices provided fiscal impact information. The county clerk in Tarrant County estimated the county would incur an expense of $150,000 for a programmer to rewrite the program for searching indexes. They also estimated there would be an annual storage cost of $888 to store the military discharge records in a secure area.

The Denton County clerk's office anticipates the bill would have a minimal fiscal impact on the county because they already have established systems in place that would be used to restrict public access to the military discharge records.

The Harris County clerk's office anticipates it would have to hire two deputy clerks at a combined annual salary of $50,532 (not including benefits) to monitor microfilm usage and to ensure that the records would not be released to the public. There also would be a $5,000 software fee and an $11,000 charge for new microfilm.

Counties could incur costs associated with making the military discharge records confidential. The cost would vary by county depending on systems that are already in place and the number of records on file and anticipated to be filed.



Source Agencies:
304 Comptroller Of Public Accounts
LBB Staff:
JK, WK, JB, DLBa