Honorable John T. Smithee, Chair, House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1799 by Thompson, Senfronia (Relating to the adoption of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB1799, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: a negative impact of ($415,561) through the biennium ending August 31, 2017.
Fiscal Year
Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2016
($252,000)
2017
($163,561)
2018
($33,828)
2019
($163,561)
2020
($33,828)
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2015
2016
($252,000)
0.0
2017
($163,561)
2.7
2018
($33,828)
0.3
2019
($163,561)
2.7
2020
($33,828)
0.3
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Government Code to establish the Legislative Council (TLC) as the official electronic publisher of the Texas Constitution and statutes, and the Texas Secretary of State (SOS) as the official electronic publisher of the general and special laws passed by the Legislature and also as the official electronic publisher of state agency rules beginning January 1, 2017. The bill would also require the TLC and SOS to create a process which would verify the trustworthiness of all official electronic documents published by the TLC and SOS and make the material reasonably available for use by the public on a permanent basis.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2015.
Methodology
Currently, the Secretary of State electronically publishes Legislative bills as they are passed as well as agency rules of Texas.
Based on information provided by the SOS, it is assumed that one contractor would be necessary for three months to accomplish the setup, installation, configuration and coding necessary to adapt the SOS' current computer system to the new requirements. The SOS assumed contractor a cost of $100 per hour for the three month period (520 hours), which would cost $52,000.00 in fiscal year 2016. In addition, SOS anticipates a software cost of $100,000 in fiscal year 2016 as well. For the purposes of this analysis, it is assumed that any additional annual maintenance costs that would be realized each year for the new software could be absorbed utilizing existing resources.
Based on information provided by TLC, it is assumed that TLC would need to retain six temporary editors employed during each legislative session for four additional months for an additional $74,000 in salary costs during session years. In addition, one experienced editor would be needed to be responsible for updating and correcting the official database throughout the year. TLC anticipates that salary costs for the editor would include $42,000 during session years (70 percent of a $60,000 salary) and $18,000 during non-session (even) fiscal years (30 percent of a $60,000 salary). TLC also anticipates that costs necessary to provide a verification system to ensure the authenticity of official legal material in an electronic record would include an initial software purchase of $100,000 in fiscal year 2016 with annual software maintenance costs of $10,000 for each subsequent year.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2015. The primary responsibilities of both the TLC and the SOS would begin in fiscal year 2017 along with any statute and constitutional updates that would be necessary as a result of legislation enacted from the 85th Legislature, therefore these costs are assumed to begin in fiscal year 2017.
Technology
TLC anticipates an initial software purchase of $100,000 in fiscal year 2016 with annual software maintenance costs of $10,000 for each subsequent year. SOS anticipates software costs of $100,000 and programming costs of $52,000 in fiscal year 2016.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
103 Legislative Council, 307 Secretary of State, 212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council