Honorable Tryon D. Lewis, Chair, House Committee On Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB460 by Cortez (Relating to authorizing the county clerk in certain counties to conduct a marriage ceremony and collect a related fee.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Family Code to authorize a county clerk and any deputy clerk in a county with a population of at least 1.7 million that contains a municipality in which at least 75 percent of the county’s population resides to conduct a marriage ceremony. Based on the applicability criteria, the provisions of the bill would apply only to Bexar County.
The bill would amend the Government Code to require a clerk or a deputy clerk who conducts a marriage ceremony to collect a $25 fee to be used by the county solely to fund charitable organizations that assist or provide care for victims of family violence, child abuse or neglect, or family violence prevention services.
Local Government Impact
The Comptroller of Public Accounts provided information from Bexar County that met the applicability requirement. The fiscal year for Bexar County begins October 1, 2013.
Bexar County reported the startup cost would be minimal and projected expenditures would be dependent upon the amount of revenue generated from the fees collected during the prior year. Currently, there are six clerks in the county clerk’s marriage license section who would assume the duty of performing the ceremonies. Bexar County judges performed 10,279 marriage ceremonies in 2010. The county estimated that if those couples were married by clerks for a fee of $25 it would generate approximately $256,975 per year or $1.54 million total for fiscal years 2013–18. The county added that not all individuals would choose to be married in the county clerk’s office.