LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 81ST LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

March 30, 2009

TO:	Honorable Mark Homer, Chair, House Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB3560 by Phillips (Relating to the establishment of a shared database for deer breeder reporting requirements.), As Introduced

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB3560, As Introduced: an impact of $0 through the biennium ending August 31, 2011.

The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.

General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2010	$0
2011	$0
2012	$0
2013	$0
2014	$0

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable (Cost) from Game,Fish,Water Safety Ac 9
2010	($602,229)
2011
2012
2013
2014

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would amend the Parks and Wildlife Code to require the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to jointly develop and maintain a shared database for deer breeder reporting requirements. TPWD and TAHC shall provide incentives to deer breeders whose cooperation results in reduced costs and increased efficiency by offering reduced fees for deer breeder permit and a permit with an extended duration.  The bill would take immediate effect if the bill receives two-thirds the vote of all members.  Otherwise, the bill would take effect September 1, 2009.

Methodology

The TAHC anticipates any additional work to the TAHC resulting from the passage of the bill could be reasonably absorbed within current resources.  However, the TPWD anticipates the bill would have a fiscal implication in fiscal year 2010, as follows:

Based on Department of Information Resources Staffing Service estimates, this analysis assumes the development of such a database will require the contract services of two programmers, full-time for one full year, and an additional programmer for 10 months.  Based on TPWD's initial scope of this database, the needs of TPWD are significantly larger than that of the Texas Animal Health Commission (TPWD field biologists, and law enforcement wardens will be utilizing this database); as such a significant portion of the development costs will be incurred by TPWD. The total costs associated for the contract services of three programmers including salary ($575,640), computers ($6,225), and other equipment operating expenses ($20,364) totals $602,229 in fiscal year 2010.  TPWD indicates it can absorb the costs of ongoing routine maintenance of the new database.

The bill would require that deer breeders whose cooperation results in reduced costs, be compensated with a reduced deer breeder permit and longer permit duration. Ultimately, this will result in decreased revenue to the General Revenue-Dedicated Game, Fish and Water Safety Account No. 9; however, considering that the per unit permit reduction, and the length of permit extension is unknown at this time, no reasonable revenue loss estimate could be made.

Technology

Total technology impact is estimated at $6,225 for laptop computers docking station, monitor and software in fiscal year 2010.

Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:

554 Animal Health Commission, 802 Parks and Wildlife Department

LBB Staff:

JOB, TB, WK