| TO: | Honorable Jeff Wentworth, Chair, Senate Committee on Jurisprudence |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB176 by Wentworth (Relating to the authority of a collection improvement program to collect court costs, fees, and fines imposed as a condition of community supervision.), As Introduced |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds |
|---|---|
| 2008 | ($1,389,814) |
| 2009 | ($1,389,814) |
| 2010 | ($1,389,814) |
| 2011 | ($1,389,814) |
| 2012 | ($1,389,814) |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from GENERAL REVENUE FUND 1 |
Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from CRIME VICTIMS COMP ACCT 469 |
Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from General Revenue Dedicated, various accounts |
Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from Other Funds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | ($1,389,814) | ($1,945,850) | ($3,495,300) | ($503,175) |
| 2009 | ($1,389,814) | ($1,945,850) | ($3,495,300) | ($503,175) |
| 2010 | ($1,389,814) | ($1,945,850) | ($3,495,300) | ($503,175) |
| 2011 | ($1,389,814) | ($1,945,850) | ($3,495,300) | ($503,175) |
| 2012 | ($1,389,814) | ($1,945,850) | ($3,495,300) | ($503,175) |
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 103.003 to allow for court costs, fees, and fines imposed as a condition of community supervision to be collected through a collections program only if the court authorizes the collection. Currently, the majority of court costs, fees, and fines imposed as a condition of community supervision are being collected as part of a Collection Improvement Program based on the model created by the Office of Court Administration (OCA).
SECTION 1. Would amend Article 103.0033, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Subsection (k), as follows: (k) Authorizes a collection improvement program to collect a court cost, fee, or fine imposed as a condition of community supervision if the court that orders such community supervision authorizes the program to do so.
SECTION 2. Would make the application of the Act retroactive.
SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2007.
Estimates were based on information provided by the OCA, which includes information the agency received from the Comptroller of Public Accounts (CPA) on revenue and court statistics collected by the OCA. The agency determined that approximately $55 million in court costs, fees, and fines was collected in county and district courts in calendar year 2005. Of this amount, 65 percent, or $36 million, is associated with counties mandated by the state to participate in the Collections Improvement Program. Based on data from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and OCA, an estimated 69 percent of the cases on which courts costs, fees, and fines are collected involve community supervision and would not be subject to the program criteria of the Collections Improvement Program under the bill.
Based on historical data from the Collections Improvement Program, the OCA estimates that implementing the program in a county would increase the collection rate by 16 percentage points. Assuming a current collection rate of 56 percent, the amounts assessed against the court costs collected would total approximately $44 million. Multiplying $44 million times an improved collection rate of 72 percent would yield collections of $31.8 million. Collections totaling $31.8 million in a county where the collections improvement program is used to collect court costs, fees, and fines in cases involving community supervision, less $24.7 million in a county where the collections program is not used in these cases, would yield a loss of $7.1 million in state revenue from previously existing court costs and fees.
In addition, the OCA estimates, based on the above methodology, that an additional amount would be lost in state revenue from the Juror Reimbursement Fee and the Judicial Support Fee, created during the Seventy-ninth Legislature. The new fees assessed from fiscal year 2006 total $3.7 million. Using the assumptions mentioned above, the loss in state revenue for these new fees would total an estimated $264,026.
Including both new and previously existing fees, the total loss in state revenue from implementation of the bill would be an estimated $7,334,139 per year.
The OCA assumes that fewer courts imposing community supervision would authorize the use of a Collections Improvement Program to collect court costs, fees, or fines under the provisions of the bill as opposed to the number of courts using a program under current statute. Based on that assumption, as indicated above, the courts would likely experience a reduction in collection rates, which would result in a reduction in collections at both the state and local government level. The OCA estimates the aggregate loss to counties statewide would be approximately $17.1 million per year. The amount would vary by county depending on the number of offenders placed on community supervision; the number of those offenders ordered to pay court costs, fees, and fines; and to what degree the courts would choose to authorize use of a collection improvement program.
In addition to the data provided by the OCA, the LBB contacted a sampling of counties, county court clerks, and district court clerks across the state. The responses varied, with counties that assumed courts would not use the collection improvement program related to community supervision estimating a revenue loss. Those counties in which the program has improved collections assumed the bill would have no fiscal impact, as their courts would continue to use the program. In counties where the program is not yet operational, the start-up costs are estimated to be insignificant and the provisions of the bill were estimated to have either no fiscal impact or an insiginficant fiscal impact.
| Source Agencies: | 212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, MN, ZS, DB, JJO
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