Honorable John Kuempel, Chair, House Committee on Licensing & Administrative Procedures
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3374 by Kuempel (Relating to the registration and regulation of certain communication access realtime translation providers; imposing a civil penalty; authorizing fees.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB3374, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: a positive impact of $10,269 through the biennium ending August 31, 2019.
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
Fiscal Year
Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2018
$3,697
2019
$6,572
2020
$6,572
2021
$6,572
2022
$6,572
Fiscal Year
Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) from General Revenue Fund 1
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2017
2018
$75,000
($71,303)
1.0
2019
$75,000
($68,428)
1.0
2020
$75,000
($68,428)
1.0
2021
$75,000
($68,428)
1.0
2022
$75,000
($68,428)
1.0
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Government Code to require the Office of Court Administration (OCA) to create a registry of communication access realtime translation providers (CART) that transcribe spoken words into English text as they are spoken to facilitate communication with people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
This bill would require registration as a CART provider as a prerequisite for a person to render real-time captioning services and would require certification by the Texas Court Reporters Association or another association designated by OCA as a prerequisite for OCA certification. The bill would require the OCA to adopt rules to establish training, educational, and experience requirements for registration by January 1, 2018. Persons seeking to engage in the practice of real-time captioning would not be required to hold a certificate of registration until September 1, 2018.
The bill provides that OCA may charge fees for issuing or renewing a certificate of registration to cover the direct and indirect cost of administering and enforcing the provisions of the bill. The bill would also grant enforcement authority for registration requirements to the Office of Attorney General through civil actions seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2017.
Methodology
OCA estimates that 500 individuals would register annually under the provisions of the bill based on information from real-time captioning providers and that a fee of no less than $150 per individual would be necessary to cover program costs. This would result in certification fee revenue collections of $75,000 each fiscal year ($150 certifications fee X 500 estimated registrations).
This analysis assumes that the number of individuals registering and the certification fee amount would continue at 2018 levels in each subsequent year. It is also assumed that these amounts would cover the necessary operating costs as required by the bill and that the JBCC would manage the real-time captioning provider certification in addition to other certifications.
In order to register these individuals, OCA estimates a need for one additional licensing specialist (1.0 FTE) at a cost of $64,858 each year ($48,000 plus associated benefits of $16,858) with additional costs of $500 in consumables, $1,000 in travel, $480 in utilities, and $1,590 in other operating and personnel expenses. In addition, the agency estimates one time startup costs of $2,875 in fiscal year 2018. Total annual costs are estimated to be $71,303 in fiscal year 2018 and $68,428 each subsequent year.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 302 Office of the Attorney General, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts