Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2161 by Turner, Sylvester (Relating to the issuance of a personal identification certificate to present or former inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.), As Engrossed
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Government Code relating to the application for the Texas Identification Certificate (ID card) for offenders being released on parole, mandatory supervision, or conditional pardon who do not have a valid Texas Driver License or Identification Certificate. The bill would require application for the ID card to be made as soon as practicable. The bill would require the Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to submit to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) on behalf of the offender a request for issuance of a personal identification certificate. The bill would require TDCJ, DPS, and the Bureau of Vital Statistics of the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to adopt a memorandum of understanding that establishes the responsibilities related to verification of the offender’s identity. The bill would require any costs associated with obtaining the ID Cards to be reimbursed by TDCJ to DSHS and DPS. The bill would not require TDCJ to request a personal identification certificate for offenders who are not legally present in the United States, or who were not a resident of this State before being placed in custody of the Department of Criminal Justice.
To maintain security to the driver license identity program, the DPS Driver License Division would create a process to accept identifying information from TDCJ and current offender photograph to produce a Texas Identification Card. Modifications to the existing driver license system to create a program to enter, scan, and produce the ID card will require programming estimated to be $56,400. Additionally, costs associated for an image collection application to be developed and manually scan the offender photograph and signature into the driver license system for the ID card is estimated to be $32,000. DPS anticipates one additional FTE (A15 classification) would be needed for this project. DPS has determined that costs associated with implementing the bill would not be significant and could be absorbed with current appropriations.
TDCJ has determined that costs associated for applying for the ID card would be dependent on the number of releases and the costs associated with obtaining the personal identification certificates. TDCJ assumes that there would be an additional fiscal impact for their portion of the fees to obtain the primary documents that DPS requires prior to issuance of the personal ID card; however, in this analysis it is assumed that the additional fiscal impact could be absorbed with existing agency resources.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
696 Department of Criminal Justice, 405 Department of Public Safety