| TO: | Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee On Criminal Justice |
| FROM: | Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB462 by Huffman (Relating to specialty court programs in this state.), As Introduced |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds |
|---|---|
| 2014 | ($2,402,000) |
| 2015 | ($2,450,000) |
| 2016 | ($2,499,000) |
| 2017 | ($2,549,000) |
| 2018 | ($2,600,000) |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from General Revenue Fund 1 |
Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from New Specialty Courts Account |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | ($2,402,000) | $2,402,000 |
| 2015 | ($2,450,000) | $2,450,000 |
| 2016 | ($2,499,000) | $2,499,000 |
| 2017 | ($2,549,000) | $2,549,000 |
| 2018 | ($2,600,000) | $2,600,000 |
The bill would amend Title 2 of the Government Code as it relates to specialty court programs in the state by adding subtitle K, Specialty Courts. Under the provisions of the bill, a new General Revenue-Dedicated Specialty Court Account would be created to receive specialty court fees that were previously collected for various drug court programs and deposited into the General Revenue Fund. Additionally, a new fee would be collected and deposited into the General Revenue Fund for a first offender prostitution prevention program.
The Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House of Representatives would be authorized to assign, to an appropriate legislative committee, duties related to oversight of specialty courts programs, and the Governor or a legislative committee could request the state auditor to review a specialty court program.
A specialty court could not operate until the court's executive provides to the Governor's office notice of the program and the provisions establishing the court. The court would be required to comply with programmatic oversight by the Governor's Office, and a court that fails to comply with these requirements would not be eligible to receive state or federal grant funds from any state agency.
The bill would do one or more of the following: create or recreate a dedicated account in the General Revenue Fund, create or recreate a special or trust fund either with or outside of the Treasury, or create a dedicated revenue source. The fund, account, or revenue dedication included in this bill would be subject to funds consolidation review by the current Legislature.
In accordance with Section 321.013, Government Code, all additional duties and responsibilities prescribed by the bill would be evaluated for inclusion in the SAO’s annual audit plan for Legislative Audit Committee approval.
The Office of Court Administration, Office of the Governor, Comptroller of Public Accounts, State Auditor’s Office, Family and Protective Services, and the Department of Criminal Justice have all indicated that the provisions of the bill could be implemented with existing agency resources.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2013.
Under provisions of the bill, a new General Revenue-Dedicated Specialty Court Account would be created to receive specialty court fees that were previously collected for various drug court programs and deposited into the General Revenue Fund. Additionally, a new fee would be collected and deposited into General Revenue Fund for a first offender prostitution prevention program.
According to the Comptroller of Public Accounts (CPA), fees from the various drug court programs are currently deposited to the General Revenue Fund. The bill would deposit the existing revenues into a newly created General Revenue-Dedicated Account for Specialty Courts to fund all of the specialty court programs under Subtitle K. The estimated revenue impact is based on the 2014-15 Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE).
Based on the Comptroller's cost estimate for a similar fee, related to the creation of a first offender prostitution prevention program, depending upon prostitution prevention program rates of participation, defendants' ability to pay, and payment schedules, as determined by the courts, there would be an indeterminate amount of revenue that would be generated by the related fee imposed by the bill.
| Source Agencies: | 212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 301 Office of the Governor, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 308 State Auditor's Office, 530 Family and Protective Services, Department of, 696 Department of Criminal Justice
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| LBB Staff: | UP, ESi, EP, CK, MW, JJO, KKR
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