Honorable Joseph Pickett, Chair, House Committee on Transportation
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB12 by Leibowitz (Relating to the membership of the Texas Transportation Commission.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Transportation Code to expand the Texas Transportation Commission to a 15-member elected commission from a 5-member Governor-appointed commission and would require that 14 of the members be elected every two years from geographic districts reapportioned by the Legislature. The bill also would require that one member would be elected at large and would serve a four year term as the commission chair and that commission member terms would expire on January 1 of an odd numbered year.
The bill would require the first election to be held at the November general elections statewide. The bill also would require an election in November 2012 for all 15 positions following redistricting after the publication of the United States census numbers; the 14 members elected from geographic districts would run again in November 2014, since their terms are for 2 years.
Based on budgeted amounts in the General Appropriations Act and information recently provided to the Sunset Advisory Commission (SAC) from the Department of Transportation (TxDOT) included in the SAC advisory report on TxDOT, it is assumed that increasing the number of commissioners and commissioner assistant positions by 10 would result in a cost that could be absorbed within TxDOT's existing budget.
No significant fiscal impact is expected for the Secretary of State.
Local Government Impact
Local governments could receive additional revenue generated from filing fees submitted by candidates to each party's State Executive Committee. Based on a filing fee of $3,750 for each candidate, it is estimated that a total of $273,750 could be generated for the 2012 and 2014 primary elections. In 2012, it is estimated that $168,750 would be generated if 3 candidates ran for each of the 15 seats. For the 2014 primary, it is assumed that 2 candidates would run for each of the 14 seats, which would generate $105,000 in filing fees.
The revenue generated by the filing fees would offset the costs incurred by counties for adding additional races to the ballot.