LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 80TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 3, 2007

TO:	Honorable Jeff Wentworth, Chair, Senate Committee on Jurisprudence
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB1412 by Hinojosa (Relating to certain fees collected by justice courts and small claims courts.), As Introduced

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend the Government Code and the Local Government Code to increase from $15 to $25 the amount of the fee a justice of the peace shall collect for services rendered by a justice court and from $10 to $25 the amount of the fee to be collected for services rendered by a small claims court. The bill would take effect September 1, 2007.

Local Government Impact

The fees collected are deposited into the county treasury. The impact would vary by county depending on the number of justice and small claims courts in each and the number of cases for which each renders services. Statewide, there are 821 justice courts and 915 municipal courts.

According to the Office of Court Administration, statewide there were 54,440 new cases filed in small claims court and 278,030 new cases filed in justice courts in fiscal year 2006. The bill would increase the cost of filing a case in small claims court by $15 ($816,600 annually) and increase the cost of filing a case in justice court by $10 ($2,780,300 annually). The bill would result in an annual net increase in revenue of $3,596,900, if the number of new cases filed were to remain static in subsequent fiscal years.

Source Agencies:

304 Comptroller of Public Accounts

LBB Staff:

JOB, MN, DB