LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 79TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

March 21, 2005

TO:	Honorable Jane Nelson, Chair, Senate Committee on Health & Human Services
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB98 by Shapleigh (Relating to determining and reporting the health insurance status of children attending public schools.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would add Section 38.018, Education Code to require school districts to collect health insurance coverage information annually through school district enrollment processes and report it to the agency through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS).  The bill would require that districts provide general written information obtained from the Health and Human Services Commission to parents who indicate that a child is not covered by health insurance.

The bill takes effect beginning with the 2005-06 school year.

Local Government Impact

School districts would incur additional administrative costs under the bill.  One-time administrative costs associated with the bill would be related to the modification of enrollment forms and procedures and modifying the automated systems.  Due to the variety of systems operating in different school districts, this cost would vary throughout the state; however, is not anticipated to be significant on a statewide basis. 

 

On-going administrative costs would include additional staff time to review forms, to identify the parents to whom information is to be provided, and to disseminate the information.  While this would vary across school districts, it is not likely that costs would be significant on a statewide basis. 

 

Ongoing costs would include printing costs for the information, unless it is provided directly by the Health and Human Services Commission.  If the information is provided in quantity from the Health and Human Services Commission, additional local printing costs would be avoided.  However, if local printing is required, costs for a one-page notice provided to all continuing students and to affected new or transfer students would be anticipated to range from $90,000 to $100,000 per year on a statewide basis, according to the agency.

Source Agencies:

701 Central Education Agency

LBB Staff:

JOB, CL, UP, KC