| TO: | Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB4424 by Hernandez (relating to operations fees and child support service fees assessed by domestic relations offices.), As Passed 2nd House |
The bill would amend the Family Code to authorize an administering entity of a domestic relations
office to collect an operations fee or child support service fee on the filing of a motion for
modification or motion for enforcement. Under current statute, the fees are collected at the time the
original suit is filed.
This bill also would require dental support for a child subject to a child support order. It is assumed that any additional costs associated with implementation of the bill could be absorbed within existing state resources.
The bill would take effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all members elected
to each house. If the bill does not receive the votes required to pass, the bill would take effect
September 1, 2009.
The authorized amount of an operations fee is no more than $15 and the authorized amount of a service fee is not more than $36. The total amount of fees collected is retained by the counties. The revenue gain from collecting fees for a motion for modification or a motion for enforcement would vary by county and would depend on the number of motions filed.
The fiscal impact to units of local government to implement the provision of the bill related to dental support for a child is not anticipated to be significant.
| Source Agencies: |
| LBB Staff: | JOB, MN, TP
|