Honorable Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor, Senate
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB346 by Zaffirini (Relating to the consolidation, allocation, classification, and repeal of certain criminal court costs and other court-related costs, fines, and fees; imposing certain court costs and fees and increasing and decreasing the amounts of certain other court costs and fees. ), As Passed 2nd House
The bill would amend Local Government Code Section 133.102 to change court costs for various levels of convictions and reallocate the proceeds among several state agencies. The bill also would reduce the minimum percentage that could be allocated to LECOSRF, a supplemental plan of the Employees Retirement System (ERS), from 11.1426% to 7.2674%. This reduction in the percentage to LECOSRF would be offset by overall increases in court costs revenues.
The bill would take effect January 1, 2020.
An actuarial impact statement was prepared for the Senate Committee Report version of the bill because the minimum percentage allocated to LECOSRF would have been 7.8898%, which would increase the appropriations to LECOSRF by approximately $574,000 in fiscal year 2020 and $1.148 million in fiscal years 2021 and thereafter. This would have increased the employer contribution to LECOSRF from 1.49% of payroll to 1.53% of payroll. The current version of the bill would reduce this allocation to 7.2674%. ERS estimates the increase in appropriations due to this change would result in an increase in court fees ranging from $6,000 in fiscal year 2020 to $22,000 in fiscal year 2024. According to ERS, this increase would not have a fiscal impact on the fund.
SOURCES Email correspondence from ERS Governmental Relations, May 21, 2019.