LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 78TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 29, 2003

TO:	Honorable Mary Denny, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:	John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB1580 by Gallego (Relating to limits on political contributions to and direct campaign expenditures made on behalf of certain candidates, officeholders, and political committees; providing civil penalties.), As Introduced

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB1580, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($259,200) through the biennium ending August 31, 2005.

The bill amends Chapter 253 of the Election Code to provide contribution limits and requires additional notice and reporting requirements relating to those limits.  The bill would take effect September 1, 2003.

General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2004	($259,200)
2005	$0
2006	$0
2007	$0
2008	$0

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable (Cost) from GENERAL REVENUE FUND 1
2004	($259,200)
2005	$0
2006	$0
2007	$0
2008	$0

Fiscal Analysis

The bill will require that the electronic filing software, web filing application and internal database for the Texas Ethics Commission be re-programmed in order to support additional reporting requirements.

Methodology

The Texas Ethics Commission has indicated that they would require outsourcing for three programmers working 18 weeks at $120 per hour for a total of $259,200.  In addition, software would need to be provided to existing office holders and specific purpose committees at a cost of $3,136.  All of the aforementioned expenses would be one-time costs for fiscal year 2004.

Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:	356 Texas Ethics Commission
LBB Staff:	JK, GO, JM