| TO: | Honorable Jeff Wentworth, Chair, Senate Committee on Jurisprudence |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB1305 by Wentworth (Relating to service of process; creating a penalty.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds |
|---|---|
| 2008 | $108,262 |
| 2009 | $20,460 |
| 2010 | ($3,690) |
| 2011 | $114,060 |
| 2012 | $20,460 |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from GENERAL REVENUE FUND 1 |
Probable Savings/(Cost) from GENERAL REVENUE FUND 1 |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | $205,050 | ($96,788) |
| 2009 | $111,450 | ($90,990) |
| 2010 | $87,300 | ($90,990) |
| 2011 | $205,050 | ($90,990) |
| 2012 | $111,450 | ($90,990) |
| Fiscal Year | Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2007 |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 1.5 |
| 2009 | 1.5 |
| 2010 | 1.5 |
| 2011 | 1.5 |
| 2012 | 1.5 |
The bill would amend the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, various Acts, the Government Code, and the Penal Code relating to the service of process in civil cases. The bill would set standards as described for process service and authorize the Supreme Court to set fees adopted by the Process Server Review Board to be collected from individuals certified to serve process. Fees would be used to pay expenses necessary to administer certification under the bill, to support supreme court programs, or to support other certification programs of the judiciary and would be deposited to the credit of the General Revenue Fund. The bill would authorize members of the Process Server Review Board to be reimbursed for travel expenses for attending board meetings from the process server review account in the Judicial Fund No. 573.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2007.
According to the Office of Court Administration, it is anticipated that the Supreme Court would set a fee of $150 per process server to be renewed every three years. An estimated 1,367 individuals would apply for certification in fiscal year 2008 for a total of $205,050 in collections; 743 in fiscal year 2009 for a total of $111,450 in collections; and, 582 in fiscal year 2010 for a total of $87,300 in collections. Beginning in fiscal year 2011, the three-year cycle would repeat. Expenditures for a process server certification program and reimbursement of Process Server Board member travel are not expected to be significant.
This estimate assumes the Office of Court Administration would need 1.5 additional FTEs to implement the provisions of the bill: A program specialist paid $49,000 and a part-time administrative assistant paid $14,000 for a total of $63,000 in salary expenses in fiscal year 2008 and each year thereafter. Related benefit costs for the employees would total $17,823 in fiscal year 2008 and each year thereafter. Information technology costs for the program would total $5,798 in the first year of implementation and annual operating costs are estimated to be $8,500. Finally, this estimate assumes annual travel expenses for Process Service Board members would total $1,667 in fiscal year 2008 and each year thereafter and would be an expense to the General Revenue Fund, rather than a process server review account in the Judicial Fund No. 573, which is not created in the legislation. The bill as substituted requires that travel expenses be paid out of Judicial Fund No. 573.
| Source Agencies: | 212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, MN, ZS, TB
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