LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 78TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 25, 2003

TO:	Honorable Will Hartnett, Chair, House Committee on Judicial Affairs
FROM:	John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB3322 by Keffer, Jim (Relating to the creation of an appellate judicial system for the Eleventh Court of Appeals District.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend Government Code, Chapter 22 to create an appellate judicial system for the Eleventh Court of Appeals.  The bill would require each county in the Eleventh Court of Appeals district to collect and forward filing fees to the county treasurer for use by the county commissioners to assist the court of appeals district.  The chief justice of the Eleventh Court of Appeals would be vested with management of the appellate judicial system.  To the extent that the Eleventh Court of Appeals uses local collections to defray expenses previously paid with state appropriations, the fiscal implication to the state is not anticipated to be significant.

Local Government Impact

No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated. The 23 counties in the Eleventh Court of Appeals District would incur slight costs to establish a separate appellate justice system fund, but these costs are expected to be minimal. Shackelford County reported 98 civil cases filed in fiscal year 2002, resulting in $490 for the fund. Taylor County reported 4,754 civil cases filed in fiscal year 2002, resulting in $23,770 for the fund.

The 23 counties in the district would also incur costs assisting the district in the administration and management of the system, but the costs would depend of the level of assistance required by the district.

Source Agencies:	212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts
LBB Staff:	JK, KG, GO, VDS, TB