FISCAL NOTE
FUND(S):
Sources of Revenue:
General Fund
Legislation creates:
Neither Program nor Fund
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
It is unclear at this point the exact impact this measure will have on the costs of State government, except to say it will cause them to go up exponentially. DEP's legal staff would have to monitor all "legal challenges to the energy industries in the state," not just that litigation to which the State is a party. Because West Virginia's 55 circuit courts are not on-line, this would require DEP to depoly its lawyers, all of whom are based out of the Charleston headquarters, across the State once a month to do a record search in every county courthouse to determine what lawsuits have been filed and how they are progressing. The cost in manpower alone is high, and it does not include the costs associated with such travel (i.e. mileage, food, lodging, etc.) or the costs associated with analyzing the litigation to "make a fiscal and budgetary analysis of the impact of the litigation."
Further, it is unclear how this is an appropriate charge for a State agency. Obviously, the Governor and the Legislature are kept abreast of litigation to which the State is a party, but this bill requires monitoring of litigation that affects industry. Industry trade associations keep track of litigation for their members and if anything occurs they think requires government assistance or intervention, they surely bring it to the attention of the Governor and the Legislature. The purpose of the DEP is to restore, maintain, and protect the environment, which purpose is not accomplished by expending limited State resources on this type of measure.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2010
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2011
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
500,000 |
500,000 |
500,000 |
| Personal Services |
400,000 |
400,000 |
400,000 |
| Current Expenses |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
100,000 |
100,000 |
100,000 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
The above costs show an increase in personal services, which will be required because DEP will have to hire three additional attorneys and two additional support staff to accomplish the mandate of SB 509. While the bill provides that the "chief executives" of the divisions are charged with carrying out the provisions of this article, those people have neither the resources nor the training to monitor state and federal litigation on a statewide level. That would have to be done by attorneys.
As noted above, this is only an initial estimate of what this bill would cost the State. This estimate cannot include the costs incidental to the travel that would be required to carry out the mandates of this bill, nor can it include an estimate of what type of increase it would cost in current expenses. Since nothing like this is currently being done in State government (at least as far as our brief research has shown), there is no way to estimate what this new responsibility will cost in manpower and other resources.
Memorandum
DEP is against this bill and would oppose its passage. During this difficult economic period, it is hard to justify an expenditure of resources to track litigation when those resources could be used to carry out DEP's main objective, which is environmental protection.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Kristin A. Boggs, Associate General Counsel
Email Address: Kristin.A.Boggs@wv.gov