BILL ANALYSIS
By: Haggerty
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
This bill would amend Section 25.0731(b) of the Government code to create an additional statutory court in El Paso County. Out of the five largest metro counties, El Paso county has the highest ratio of cases per court. When the court was created in 1991 it inherited 9000 cases. The newly created, Probate Court No. 2 of El Paso County would have primary responsibility for mental health proceedings while Probate Court No. 1 of El Paso County would have primary responsibility for probate cases, which includes probating of a decedent's will, administration of a decedent's estate and guardianships of adults and minors. Currently, all probate and mental health cases are dealt with in one court. Over the past four years, the number of pending cases has grown by over two thousand per year while the number of new cases have been increasing by over one hundred per year. Because there are no other courts to shift increasing caseloads to, El Paso County Probate Court No. 1 is quickly becoming overwhelmed.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
The creation of a new statutory Probate Court would incur additional costs for the creation of a court staff and operating expenses totaling approximately $505,335 and an increase in guardianship appointments of approximately $108,915. This would be offset by an annual income of approximately $353,373 for an approximate net cost of $260,877. These estimated costs would apply for the first two years with the possibility of guardianship appointments increasing thereafter, which could approximate $450,000 expense by year five, which would result in a net cost of approximately $6011, 962 per year after five years. The current County Population is 692,152 with an adopted budget of $210,926,762.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2005