Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE and LOCAL

REVISED FISCAL IMPACT

(replaces fiscal impact dated February 5, 1999)

Drafting Number:

Prime Sponsor(s):

LLS 99-0615

Rep. McElhany

 

Date:

Bill Status:

Fiscal Analyst:

February 22, 1999

House Appropriations

Scott Nachtrieb (303-866-4752)

 

TITLE:            CONCERNING THE CREATION OF A SYSTEM TO ALLOW BULK ELECTRONIC TRANSFER OF PUBLIC RECORDS MAINTAINED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, AND MAKING AN APPROPRIATION IN CONNECTION THEREWITH.



Fiscal Impact Summary

FY 1999/2000

FY 2000/2001

State Revenues

Cash Fund


up to -$112,548


up to -$112,548

State Expenditures

General Fund


 


 

FTE Position Change

0.0 FTE

0.0 FTE

Other State Impact: TABOR

Effective Date: 90 days after adjournment unless a petition is filed

Appropriation Summary for FY 1999-2000: None

Local Government Impact: None



Summary of Legislation


            The bill, as amended by the House Transportation and Energy Committee, February 10, 1999, would require that the Department of Revenue (DOR) contract with private industry to create a system for the bulk sale and transfer of driver’s license and motor vehicle registration records. The amendment would prohibit the sale of photographs, fingerprints, or images from driver’s license or motor vehicle records. The amended bill would remove the provisions of the bill that would have used revenues from the bulk transfer to pay the costs of transferring the data. Instead, the bill would continue to fund the program with General Funds.



State Revenues


            In FY 1997-98, the DOR received a total of $4.7 million in revenues from the sale of customized computer runs and bulk records . Of this amount, customized computer runs produced approximately $112,548 and complete bulk record sales equaled approximately $4.67 million in revenue. This bill would prohibit the department from performing customized computer runs which will reduce annual revenues to the HUTF by an estimated $112,548.


            However, this bill would allow DOR to contract with vendors to provide the data and allow the vendor to resell the data. The bill transfers any revenues generated from the bulk sales to the State Highway Fund. Under current law, these funds are deposited into the Highway Users Tax Fund. Should the DOR not generate at least $112,548 in revenue, there would be a loss of revenue to the HUTF. If more than that amount is generated, there would be additional revenue to the HUTF. The number of companies that would purchase this information and how much they would pay for the data is not known.


            NOTE: It should be noted that under current law a person may indicate that they want their motor vehicle registration and driver's license records held in confidence and not to be sold. The DOR in response to a 1998 performance audit is attempting to ensure that the public knows that they may have their records made private and make it easier for the individual to do so. The impact this effort may have on bulk record sales has not been considered in this fiscal note. In addition, by privatizing the sale of bulk records, other entities that frequently purchase records on a regular basis, but on a much smaller scale, may choose to pay the private vendor for the records rather than the DOR.


            Under current law, the Department of Revenue has sold driver's license photos and other images to contractors for use in fraud prevention programs. The amount of revenue to the Highway Users Tax Fund from those sales during FY 1997-98 was approximately $128,000. The department anticipates the amount of any follow-on sales during FY 1999-2000 and FY 2000-01 to be minimal. The department does not rely on this minimal revenue to support any existing programs. Additionally, the department currently provides copies of driver's license photos and images free of any charges to the media.



State Expenditures


            As amended, the bill would remove the use of HUTF revenue to fund this program and continue to fund this program with General Funds. The department currently generates computer runs to computer tapes for bulk record sales. This bill would require the department to transfer the data electronically rather than via tape which may require some initial computer programming in order to transfer the data from the department's database to the vendor's database electronically. The amount of computer programming required has not been accurately determined at this time. Any computer programming costs would be a one-time cost that would be paid for by the vendor.

 


Local Government Impact


            The bill, as amended, would remove the provision that changed the Highway Users Tax Fund distribution for these funds to the state, cities, and counties.



State Appropriations


            This fiscal note implies that the Department of Revenue would not require an appropriation for FY 1999-00 to implement this bill.



Departments Contacted


            Revenue