The bill would add Alamo Complex rangers commissioned by the General Land Office and Veterans' Land Board (GLO) to those who are considered peace officers. The bill would require the GLO to commission as peace officers Alamo Complex rangers who have been certified as qualified to be a peace officer by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. The bill would specify that these rangers would have the powers, privileges, and immunities of a peace officer while carrying out duties as an Alamo Complex ranger.

The GLO assumes that an unknown number of rangers would transition from security officers employed by Alamo Trust Incorporated (ATI) to commissioned peace officers employed by the agency itself; it is unclear, however, if the bill would require the rangers to be state employees. The agency's approximate net cost estimate of implementing this transfer and establishing a new program for related law enforcement activities is $2,500,000 million in each fiscal year of the 2024-25 biennium. According to the agency, this amount does not reflect potential increases in salary costs as a result of the rangers being commissioned peace officers rather than private security officers. Although the agency assumes these costs could be absorbed within one-time General Revenue appropriations included in House Bill 1 for the Alamo, it also assumes the transition of the rangers to GLO employees could result in an indeterminate amount of savings to General Revenue-Dedicated Alamo Complex Account No. 5152 (GR-D 5152) as a result of decreased contracting costs with ATI which would offset the costs of the transition to some extent for a period of time. Although ongoing salary and operating expenses for the Alamo Complex rangers may be determined to be an allowable use of funds from GR-D 5152, the amount would be necessary to pay for increased salary, employee benefits, and other operating costs cannot be determined. Accordingly, the extent to which estimated available balances and revenues from GR-D 5152 could cover these costs is unknown. Based on information provided by GLO, the fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined because the number of rangers that would either be contracted as peace officers with ATI, transition or be employed by GLO, the amount of the associated salary costs, and the extent to which contract cost savings could offset operation expenses is unknown.

The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement anticipates no fiscal impact as a result of these changes. The Employee Retirement System (ERS) notes that it is unable to estimate the potential increase in the number of deaths for which line of duty death benefits would be paid by the state because of the bill's provisions. As such, the related increase in cost cannot be estimated at this time.

LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 88TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION


April 25, 2023

TO:	Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice

FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board

IN RE:	SB2612 by Flores (Relating to the commissioning by the General Land Office of certain Alamo complex rangers as peace officers.), As Introduced