The bill would amend the Government Code and Local Government Code to restrict the use of public funds by political subdivisions for lobbying activities and to repeal the authority of a county commissioners court to spend money from the county's general fund for membership fees and dues of a nonprofit state association of counties.
According to the Texas Association of Counties (TAC), the bill would have a significant fiscal impact on counties. Each county would have to hire additional staff to replace legislative research and analysis services provided by TAC. Tom Green County estimates they would need to hire an additional four people and notes this does not include the coordinated fiscal note and information responses that TAC provides to the Legislative Budget Board and directly to legislators.
TAC also provides numerous other services such as training, conference services, legal services, publications, guides, sample policies, and best practices. The loss of these services might be replaced, but it is likely that the costs would increase. It is not possible to determine an exact fiscal impact to counties although TAC anticipates that it will be significant.