LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 79TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
April 4, 2005

TO:
Honorable Dennis Bonnen, Chair, House Committee on Environmental Regulation
 
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB1611 by Chisum (Relating to the use of money for the low-income vehicle repair assistance, retrofit, and accelerated vehicle retirement program.), As Introduced



Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB1611, As Introduced: an impact of $0 through the biennium ending August 31, 2007.

The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.



Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2005 $0
2006 $0
2007 $0
2008 $0
2009 $0




Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) from
CLEAN AIR ACCOUNT
151 		Probable Revenue Gain from
New General Revenue Dedicated--Participating County Accounts		 Probable (Cost) from
New General Revenue Dedicated--Participating County Accounts
2005 ($6,500,000) $6,500,000 $0
2006 $0 $0 ($3,250,000)
2007 $0 $0 ($3,250,000)
2008 $0 $0 $0
2009 $0 $0 $0

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would provide that any balances not used by a county or by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to operate the Low-income vehicle repair assistance, retrofit and accelerated vechile retirement program (LIRAP) be remitted to the Comptroller at the end of a fiscal year. The Comptroller would deposit such funds into a newly created General Revenue-Dedicated account for each participating county. The amounts attributable to collections in a particular county would be credited to each county's respective account.

The bill would provide that funds in a county's account could be appropriated to be used in a particular county for various air-quality-related purposes.

The bill would take effect immediately if it received a two-thirds vote in both houses. Otherwise, it would take effect on September 1, 2005. 


Methodology

This estimate assumes that the bill would take effect immediately, and that the only year in which funds would be available for transfer to the newly created participating county accounts would be fiscal year 2005, since the TCEQ was appropriated $10.5 million in that fiscal year but only expects to expend $4 million, leaving a $6.5 million unexpended balance. In future years beginning in fiscal year 2006, this estimate assumes that the appropriations for the LIRAP program would only be at a level of $3.1 million per year, leaving no unexpended balances to transfer to the newly created participating county accounts.

This estimate assumes that the 2005 unexpended LIRAP balances would be appropriated out of the participating county accounts over the 2006-07 biennium, with an equal amount being spent in each fiscal year. Although each participating county would have its own account, for the purposes of this estimate, only aggregate amounts are shown.

If the bill's passage resulted in the TCEQ being appropriated all LIRAP revenues being appropriated to the TCEQ ($26.5 to $36.5 million per year in fiscal years 2006-10), with all unexpended balances of the program being available to counties, there would be an additional cost ranging from $23 million to $32 million each fiscal year associated with the bill. Counties would experience a corresponding increase in revenues for air quality-related projects.

If the bill would take effect on September 1, 2005, and the level of appropriations for the LIRAP program remains at $3.1 million per year, the bill's passage could result in minimal impact to the state and local governments.


Local Government Impact

This estimate assumes that $6.5 million would be appropriated for use by counties for air-quality related purposes over the 2006-07 biennium. The amount each county would receive would depend on the amount of revenues collected in the county and the level of LIRAP expenditures in that same county in fiscal year 2005. Assuming counties would receive a level of revenue proportionate to the amount of fee revenue collected in the county, Harris County would receive approximately 34 percent of the $6.5 million; Dallas County would receive 22 percent; Tarrant Coiunty would receive 15 percent; Collin County would receive 6 percent; and Denton County would receive 4 percent. Remaining counties (Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, and Montgomery) would each receive 3 percent or less of the funding.


Source Agencies:
301 Office of the Governor, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 405 Department of Public Safety, 582 Commission on Environmental Quality
LBB Staff:
JOB, WK, ZS, TL, KJG