LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 80TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

March 11, 2007

TO:	Honorable Will Hartnett, Chair, House Committee on Judiciary
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB645 by Hughes (Relating to the salary of a district judge presiding over multidistrict litigation.), As Introduced

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB645, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($120,000) through the biennium ending August 31, 2009.

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

General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2008	($55,000)
2009	($65,000)
2010	($80,000)
2011	($75,000)
2012	($90,000)

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Savings/(Cost) from GENERAL REVENUE FUND 1
2008	($55,000)
2009	($65,000)
2010	($80,000)
2011	($75,000)
2012	($90,000)

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would amend Government Code, Chapter 659 to allow a district judge who presides over at least one multidistrict litigation consolidation of cases, to receive the same increase in annual salary ($5,000 each fiscal year) as the local administrative district judge. The bill would exclude the supplemental compensation as a basis for computing another salary that is based on the salary of the district judge and from the salary cap for district judges from state and local sources included in the General Appropriations Act.

The bill would take effect September 1, 2007.

Methodology

According to the Office of Court Administration, the MDL Panel authorized in the Government Code has assigned eight district judges to preside over coordinated pretrial proceedings since the Seventy-eighth Legislature created the MDL system in 2003.  Assuming no MDL cases are disposed by August 31, 2007 and that on average three new such MDL cases are filed each fiscal year and one MDL case is disposed every other fiscal year, the bill would result in a cost to General Revenue of $55,000 in fiscal year 2008 and $65,000 in fiscal year 2009.  Estimated dispositions in this analysis are assumed to be low due to the unknown effect of appeals in the system on MDL caseloads.

	New	Disposed	Balance	$5,000 per presiding judge assigned
Bal, as of 8/31/07			8
FY 2008	3	1	10	$55,000
FY 2009	3		13	$65,000
FY 2010	3	1	12	$80,000
FY 2011	3		15	$75,000
FY 2012	3	1	17	$90,000

Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:

212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts

LBB Staff:

JOB, MN, ZS, TB