The fiscal implications cannot be determined due to the full extent of the activities involved in implementation, administration, and enforcement of the bill's provisions being unknown.
The bill would amend the Finance Code to add a chapter relating to the regulation of virtual currency kiosks. The bill would require virtual currency kiosk operators to hold a money transmission license issued by the Texas Department of Banking, to register with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), and to obtain prior approval from TDLR before operating. The bill would also set certain requirements and restrictions on the conduct of virtual kiosk operators and authorize TDLR to adopt rules necessary to implement, administer, and enforce the chapter.
TDLR estimates that the agency would require an additional $350,000 each year and 3.0 additional full-time equivalent positions to implement the registration portions of the bill. However, the agency reports difficulty determining what it would be able to do to enforce the bill's provisions and thus what its related needs would be in the absence of specific authority granted by the bill. In addition the agency reports that the Commission of Licensing and Regulation adopts rules for TDLR and the programs it regulates, not TDLR, and it is unknown what activities the Commission might authorize by rule to implement, administer, or enforce the chapter. As the full extent of TDLR's involvement in implementation, administration, and enforcement of the bill's provisions is currently unknown, the fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined.
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.