LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 78TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
April 9, 2003

TO:
Honorable Mary Denny, Chair, House Committee on Elections
 
FROM:
John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB3096 by Madden (Relating to the penalty for the failure to timely file a report of political contributions and expenditures with the Texas Ethics Commission.), As Introduced



Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB3096, As Introduced: a positive impact of $3,093,000 through the biennium ending August 31, 2005.



Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2004 $1,546,500
2005 $1,546,500
2006 $1,546,500
2007 $1,546,500
2008 $1,546,500




Fiscal Year Probable Revenue Gain from
GENERAL REVENUE FUND
1
2004 $1,546,500
2005 $1,546,500
2006 $1,546,500
2007 $1,546,500
2008 $1,546,500

Fiscal Analysis

This bill would amend the Election Code to establish a late fee of $100 for reports of political contributions or expenditures that were not timely filed with the Texas Ethics Commission.
A person would be liable for a late fee of $100 per day for a report that had not been timely filed within seven days of a deadline. The bill would establish a per report limit of $50,000 on the civil penalty that could be imposed for a chronically late filing. The late fee could not be continued upon appeal or the filing of an action to dispute the penalty. This bill would take effect September 1, 2003.

Methodology

The Texas Ethics Commission indicated that 698 campaign finance reports were filed late for fiscal year 2002.  Of those 698 reports, 265 were filed within seven days.  This bill would assess a fine of $100 for those reports, totaling $26,500 for fines paid.  The remaining 433 reports were filed over the seven day period and would be subject to a fine of $100 a day up to $50,000.  For purposes of this fiscal note, it is assumed that, given the disincentive of higher fines, 200 of these reports would come in within seven days ($20,000 cost) and the remaining 233 would be assessed a higher fine at an estimated impact of $1.5 million. This analysis assumes that this revised trend for late filing would continue. All fines received would be deposited into the General Revenue Fund.   

 

Technology

This bill would have no impact on technology.

Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.


Source Agencies:
304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 356 Texas Ethics Commission
LBB Staff:
JK, JO, GO, MS, JM