Honorable Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor, Senate Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1690 by King, Phil (Relating to the investigation and prosecution of offenses against public administration, including ethics offenses.), Conference Committee Report
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Government Code to establish a Public Integrity Unit within the Texas Ranger Division of the Department of Public Safety (DPS). It is assumed the establishment of a Public Integrity Unit within the Texas Ranger Division would result in costs to DPS. However, the agency has indicated that while the bill would require additional investigative resources devoted to public corruption investigations, the Texas Ranger Division could absorb the additional workload within existing resources.
The bill would also direct the Comptroller to pay from appropriations made specifically for enforcement of public integrity prosecutions reasonable amounts incurred by a prosecuting attorney for extraordinary costs of prosecution of an offense against public administration. The Comptroller has indicated the costs to the state resulting from this requirement can not be determined.
Local Government Impact
It is assumed any costs associated with prosecutions resulting from the bill would be to some degree offset by the bill's requirement for the Comptroller to pay reasonable amounts incurred by a prosecuting attorney for extraordinary costs of prosecution of an offense against public administration.
Source Agencies:
212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 302 Office of the Attorney General, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 405 Department of Public Safety, 454 Department of Insurance