LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 81ST LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 20, 2009

TO:	Honorable Yvonne Davis, Chair, House Committee on Urban Affairs
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB3163 by Davis, Yvonne (Relating to funding the housing trust fund.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend the Government Code relating to funding the Housing Trust Fund (HTF). The HTF is a trust fund held outside the Treasury by the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company. The bill would direct county clerks to collect a $10 affordable housing fee for each document filed in the real property records. The bill would also amend the Government Code with regard to the HTF to reference deposits from the affordable housing fee.

The Comptroller of Public Accounts (Comptroller) would deposit money received to the credit of the HTF.  For the purpose of this analysis, the Comptroller obtained information on real estate filings through a survey of certain county clerks' offices, and those results were extrapolated to a statewide total. Estimated filings were projected through fiscal year 2014. Fee revenues were estimated and adjusted for collection lags, and allocations to the HTF and counties were estimated. Based on the analysis provided by the Comptroller, the HTF would have the following positive impact: $25,251,000 in fiscal year 2010; $30,937,000 in fiscal year 2011; $31,587,000 in fiscal year 2012; $32,219,000 in fiscal year 2013; and $32,863,000 in fiscal year 2014.  

Based on information provided by the Comptroller and the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, this analysis assumes that duties and responsibilities associated with implementing the provisions of the bill could be accomplished utilizing existing resources.

Local Government Impact

The bill would permit a county clerk to collect an affordable housing fee of $10 for a filed document, in addition to any other fees, and remit the fees to the county treasurer. A county treasurer would be required to remit $9.90 of the fee collected to the Comptroller of Public Accounts, and would retain 10 cents, plus any interest for expenses incurred for collecting and remitting fees. The fiscal impact to counties to implement the provisions of the bill is not anticipated to be significant: $255,000 in fiscal year 2010; $312,000 in fiscal year 2011; $319, 000 in fiscal year 2012; $325,000 in fiscal year 2013; and $332,000 in fiscal year 2014.

Source Agencies:

304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 332 Department of Housing and Community Affairs

LBB Staff:

JOB, DB, MW, NV, TP