| TO: | Honorable Jaime Capelo, Chair, House Committee on Public Health |
| FROM: | John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB2988 by Capelo (Relating to public health preparedness' providing criminal penalties. ), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted |
The bill relates to public health preparedness and provides criminal penalties. The Department of Health indicates that the agency would not incur any significant fiscal impact in implementing the provisions of the bill. The agency assumes that activities associated with the additional authority given the agency would not be significantly different from the current disease control/quarantine measures.
The Board of Medical Examiners and the Office of Court Administration indicate that the bill would have no fiscal impact on these agencies.
Costs to local governments to implement the bill would include personnel costs to satisfy investigation and reporting requirements during an actual emergency.
The Texas Department of Health indicates that there would be no significant impact to local government budgets to implement the bill.
The Office of Court Administration indicates that there may be costs to local governments to the extend that local governmental officials may engage in assisting state officials in investigating and enforcing the bill's provisions.
The Texas Hospital Association reports that there would be a limited financial impact to local government unless a public health emergency or area quarantine is declared.
The Brownwood-Brown County Health Department (Brown County population 38,000; department budget $206,200) and the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District (district population 215,532; district budget $5,445,560) report that there would be no significant impact to their budget to implement the bill. However, both indicate that there would be significant costs in law enforcement and legal costs in the event of a declared disaster.
| Source Agencies: | 501 Department of Health, 212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 503 Board of Medical Examiners
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| LBB Staff: | JK, KG, EB, RR, KF, RM
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