LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 86TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
Revision 1
 
March 14, 2019

TO:
Honorable Joan Huffman, Chair, Senate Committee on State Affairs
 
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director     Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director
Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
SB702 by Bettencourt (Relating to the authorization and reporting of expenditures for lobbying activities by certain political subdivisions and other public entities.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

Based on the analysis of the Texas Education Agency and the Higher Education Coordinating Board, it is assumed that the requirements of the bill relating to lobbying activity reporting could be absorbed using existing state resources. Based on the analysis of the Texas Ethics Commission, there would be one-time technology implementation costs associated with the provisions of the bill relating to online lobbying activity registrations. However, this analysis assumes that these costs could be absorbed using existing resources.

Local Government Impact

The bill would require lobbying activity reports for certain political subdivisions. Based on the analysis of the City of Houston, the Texas Education Agency, and the Texas Ethics Commission, the lobby registration requirements created by the bill could have a fiscal impact on school districts and other political subdivisions. However, due to the uncertainty of these assumptions the fiscal implications of the bill for local government cannot be determined at this time.


Source Agencies:
356 Texas Ethics Commission, 701 Texas Education Agency, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board
LBB Staff:
WP, CMa, NV, JMO, SD