LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 89TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION April 26, 2025 TO: Honorable Ken King, Chair, House Committee on State Affairs FROM: Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB4823 by Capriglione (Relating to an electronic filing system for certain reports of political contributions and expenditures.), As Introduced Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB4823, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($10,621,933) through the biennium ending August 31, 2027. The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill. General Revenue-Related Funds, Five- Year Impact: Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact toGeneral Revenue Related Funds2026($5,367,410)2027($5,254,523)2028($5,254,523)2029($5,254,523)2030($5,254,523)All Funds, Five-Year Impact: Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) fromGeneral Revenue Fund1 Change in Number of State Employees from FY 20252026($5,367,410)4.02027($5,254,523)4.02028($5,254,523)4.02029($5,254,523)4.02030($5,254,523)4.0 Fiscal AnalysisThe bill would amend the Election Code related to the filing of certain reports of political contributions and expenditures. Under the provisions of Election Code, Section 252.005, the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) provides services to approximately 10,000 candidates for various statewide offices. Candidates for local offices file reports in a format promulgated by TEC with local jurisdictions. The bill would require that these local candidates file required reports with TEC rather than their local jurisdiction.TEC estimates that there are approximately 25,000 elected subdivision positions (including county, municipal, utility district, and school district offices). The agency's existing Electronic Filing System (EFS) would require expansion to serve a potential addition of an estimated 50,000 political candidates to meet the requirements of the bill.In addition, TEC anticipates that the increase in the number of candidates filing with the agency, rather than with their local jurisdictions, would also require additional staff to provide outreach, onboarding, training, support, and communication with current filing authorities and local candidate filers.The bill also directs the agency to establish a public, web-based platform to consolidate and to present campaign finance data from all filing authorities across the state in a central location on the TEC website.
LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 89TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
April 26, 2025
TO: Honorable Ken King, Chair, House Committee on State Affairs FROM: Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB4823 by Capriglione (Relating to an electronic filing system for certain reports of political contributions and expenditures.), As Introduced
TO: Honorable Ken King, Chair, House Committee on State Affairs
FROM: Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB4823 by Capriglione (Relating to an electronic filing system for certain reports of political contributions and expenditures.), As Introduced
Honorable Ken King, Chair, House Committee on State Affairs
Honorable Ken King, Chair, House Committee on State Affairs
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
HB4823 by Capriglione (Relating to an electronic filing system for certain reports of political contributions and expenditures.), As Introduced
HB4823 by Capriglione (Relating to an electronic filing system for certain reports of political contributions and expenditures.), As Introduced
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB4823, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($10,621,933) through the biennium ending August 31, 2027. The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB4823, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($10,621,933) through the biennium ending August 31, 2027. The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
General Revenue-Related Funds, Five- Year Impact:
2026 ($5,367,410)
2027 ($5,254,523)
2028 ($5,254,523)
2029 ($5,254,523)
2030 ($5,254,523)
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
2026 ($5,367,410) 4.0
2027 ($5,254,523) 4.0
2028 ($5,254,523) 4.0
2029 ($5,254,523) 4.0
2030 ($5,254,523) 4.0
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Election Code related to the filing of certain reports of political contributions and expenditures. Under the provisions of Election Code, Section 252.005, the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) provides services to approximately 10,000 candidates for various statewide offices. Candidates for local offices file reports in a format promulgated by TEC with local jurisdictions. The bill would require that these local candidates file required reports with TEC rather than their local jurisdiction.TEC estimates that there are approximately 25,000 elected subdivision positions (including county, municipal, utility district, and school district offices). The agency's existing Electronic Filing System (EFS) would require expansion to serve a potential addition of an estimated 50,000 political candidates to meet the requirements of the bill.In addition, TEC anticipates that the increase in the number of candidates filing with the agency, rather than with their local jurisdictions, would also require additional staff to provide outreach, onboarding, training, support, and communication with current filing authorities and local candidate filers.The bill also directs the agency to establish a public, web-based platform to consolidate and to present campaign finance data from all filing authorities across the state in a central location on the TEC website.
TEC estimates that there are approximately 25,000 elected subdivision positions (including county, municipal, utility district, and school district offices). The agency's existing Electronic Filing System (EFS) would require expansion to serve a potential addition of an estimated 50,000 political candidates to meet the requirements of the bill.In addition, TEC anticipates that the increase in the number of candidates filing with the agency, rather than with their local jurisdictions, would also require additional staff to provide outreach, onboarding, training, support, and communication with current filing authorities and local candidate filers.The bill also directs the agency to establish a public, web-based platform to consolidate and to present campaign finance data from all filing authorities across the state in a central location on the TEC website.
Methodology
The TEC estimates that the bill would require 4.0 FTEs to provide outreach, onboarding, training, support, and communications to filing authorities and local filers. Anticipated positions include: one IT Support Specialist III ($60,000 per year), one Programmer III ($85,869 per year), and two Program Specialist IIIs ($62,136 per year). Associated benefits and other expenses for the 4.0 FTEs would be $84,382 per year, with an additional $11,387 in setup costs for the positions in fiscal year 2026.
Technology
According to TEC, the vendor for the EFS anticipates an additional cost of $4.9 million for the expansion of the existing EFS system under the provisions of the bill. The primary increase in cost would be related to hosting and maintaining a separate instance of the filing system for each political subdivision. Additional costs, according to TEC, would include vendor-provided outreach and training to local governments on how to operate the back-end of the system.The agency estimates that an expansion of website functionality would result in a one-time cost of $101,500 in fiscal year 2026.
Local Government Impact
The fiscal implications of the bill to units of local government cannot be determined at this time; however, local jurisdictions would be required to receive training on the EFS for tasks such as creating filer accounts, tracking filing requirements, and sending notices to local candidates. It is anticipated that these costs could be significant.
Source Agencies: b > td > 313 Department of Information Resources, 356 Texas Ethics Commission
313 Department of Information Resources, 356 Texas Ethics Commission
LBB Staff: b > td > JMc, WP, LCO, GP, NV
JMc, WP, LCO, GP, NV