Honorable Garnet Coleman, Chair, House Committee on County Affairs
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2516 by Springer (relating to fines paid for the violation of a county regulation prohibiting or restricting outdoor burning. ), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Local Government Code to authorize a commissioners court of a county that has one or more volunteer fire departments located within the county to deposit fines collected from outdoor burning violations into the county's general fund to be distributed only to volunteer fire departments. An offense under this subsection is a Class C misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of not more than $500.
Local Government Impact
There could be a negative fiscal impact to counties that chose to distribute funds to volunteer fire departments; however, the amounts would vary depending on the amount of fines collected and whether a county currently distributes funds to volunteer fire departments. It is assumed that a county would distribute funds to volunteer fire departments only if sufficient resources were available, or the county currently distributes funds.
Costs associated with enforcement and prosecution could likely be absorbed within existing resources. Revenue gain from fines imposed and collected is not anticipated to have a significant fiscal impact.