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:
SB1964 by Hinojosa (Relating to the imposition of additional fees for filing civil cases and for recording certain documents in Hidalgo County and Cameron County.), Conference Committee Report
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Government Code to require a clerk of certain courts to collect a filing fee of up to $20 in certain cases to be used towards the construction and renovation of court facilities. The bill would require a clerk to send the fees to the county treasurer. The bill would require a county clerk to collect a fee of $10 for the filing for real property records to be used to fund the construction and renovation of court facilities. All fees established by the bill would be required to be approved or passed by resolution by the commissioners court of the county. The bill establishes a process of the expiration of the fees. The bill applies to Hidalgo and Cameron County.
The Office of Court Administration reported no significant fiscal impact to the state court system is anticipated.
Local Government Impact
According to the Comptroller of Public Accounts, the Hidalgo County Court Administrator Office indicated that in 2014 there were 99,878 official recordings, 40,833 e-recordings, 15,602 official records processed, 16,242 civil cases filed and 544 probate cases filed.
According to the Comptroller of Public Accounts, the Cameron County Auditor Office indicated that the district clerk office anticipates 4,799 cases being filed and the county clerk office anticipates 2,035 cases being filed for fiscal years 2016-2020.
The amount of revenue to each county would depend on the number of applicable cases filed in each county upon implementation of the additional fees.
Source Agencies:
212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts