LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 79TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
February 19, 2005

TO:
Honorable Frank Madla, Chair, Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations
 
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
SB313 by Gallegos (Relating to the training required for certain county jailers.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would require that the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education (TCLEOSE) require a person appointed as a county jailer in a county with a population of 500,000 or more to complete 160 hours of commission-approved training, in addition to the required preparatory training, not later than the second anniversary of the date the person was appointed. The bill would take effect September 1, 2005.

TCLEOSE reports that if it were to develop the 160-hour training course, there would be a one-time cost to the agency of approximately $192,000. If the agency were to instead only approve county-developed courses, the agency would only incur administrative costs.


Local Government Impact

There are seven counties to which the population criteria would apply: Bexar, Dallas, El Paso, Harris, Hidalgo, Tarrant, and Travis. The counties assume they would develop and provide the training.

Dallas County assumed providing additional training to all 912 of its county jailers and estimates that the annual one-time training costs in 2006 would be over $4.0 million, having a moderate fiscal impact based on the county's annual budget of nearly $434.2 million. Dallas County estimates providing the training to an anticipated 91 new officers each year thereafter at a cost of approximately $406,000 per year, an insignificant fiscal impact.

Harris County reports that the sheriff's office employs approximately 500 jailers and that 152 of those have less than two years' experience. Harris County estimates that the cost to provide an additional 160 hours of training to just the 152 newer jailers would be nearly $450,000 in fiscal year 2006, and to train new jailers in fiscal year 2007 would cost approximately $458,000. The county's estimated costs for fiscal years 2008 through 2010 range from $226,644 to $244,863. These costs include hiring two additional trainers in fiscal year 2006, salaries of the existing and newly recruited jailers that would have to be trained, and supplies and equipment associated with conducting training. The costs estimated represent less than 1 percent of the county's overall budget of nearly $1.2 billion.

The Travis County Sheriff's Office reports that they already exceed the current required number of training hours for their jailers, and therefore the provisions of the bill would not have a fiscal impact on them.

The fiscal impact to the applicable seven counties would vary, but is not expected to be significant.



Source Agencies:
407 Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education
LBB Staff:
JOB, DLBa