LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 83RD LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 16, 2013

TO:	Honorable Tracy O. King, Chair, House Committee on Agriculture & Livestock
FROM:	Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB1826 by González, Mary (Relating to authorizing the Department of Agriculture to create a database of nonpaying buyers of agricultural products; authorizing a fee.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend the Agriculture Code to provide that the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) may maintain on its website an electronically searchable database of named defendants found liable in suits for nonpayment for agricultural products. Under provisions of the bill, sellers of agricultural products could submit to TDA the name of a buyer of agriculture products that had failed to make a payment to the seller provided that a court had entered a judgment holding the buyer liable for outstanding payment. The bill would allow TDA to set a fee for including a name or suit in the database.

In its response, TDA noted minimal costs for implementing the provisions of the bill. This estimate assumes that TDA could implement the provisions of the bill within existing resources. The State Office of Administrative Hearings indicated the agency could implement provisions of the bill within existing resources. Additionally, both the Comptroller of Public Accounts as well as TDA indicated that potential fee revenue associated with submissions to the database could not be determined at this time.

Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:

304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 360 State Office of Administrative Hearings, 551 Department of Agriculture

LBB Staff:

UP, SZ, JP