According to the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), the bill is not expected to have a significant fiscal implication for the state. The fiscal note assumes that any costs associated with implementing the bill can be absorbed within the Texas Department of Transportation’s existing funding sources for highway planning, right-of-way acquisition, and construction.

The main fiscal drivers would likely be administrative: sending certified mail, tracking acknowledgments, identifying additional known addresses for property owners, and making reasonable follow-up efforts through TxDOT district offices when acknowledgment is not received. The LBB does not identify these costs as requiring additional appropriations or creating a significant state fiscal burden.

The fiscal note also states that no fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated. In practical terms, the bill places the implementation responsibility on TxDOT and does not appear to impose costs on counties, municipalities, or other local entities.

Texas Policy Research recommends that lawmakers vote YES on HB 4164. The bill is a narrow notice bill that seeks to ensure adjoining property owners receive meaningful notice when certain state highway projects may affect them. The bill does not expand TxDOT’s underlying authority to build highways, acquire right-of-way, or regulate private property. Instead, it changes the process TxDOT must follow when providing notice by requiring certified mail, requesting acknowledgment of receipt, and requiring additional reasonable efforts to locate and personally notify an owner when notice is not acknowledged.

The bill does grow the scope of government in a limited procedural sense. It imposes new administrative duties on TxDOT and grants the department rulemaking authority to prescribe the form and manner for a property owner’s acknowledgment response. That is a real limited-government concern because it adds process and discretion within a state agency. However, the added authority is narrow, tied to notice administration, and does not create a new program, office, fund, enforcement regime, or open-ended regulatory power. The bill’s government-growth concern is therefore modest and directly connected to protecting affected property owners from lack of notice.

The bill is not expected to increase the burden on taxpayers in any significant way. The Legislative Budget Board fiscal note states that no significant fiscal implication to the state is anticipated and assumes that any costs can be absorbed within TxDOT’s existing highway planning, right-of-way acquisition, and construction funding sources. The fiscal note also states that no fiscal implication to local governments is anticipated. The likely costs—certified mail, tracking acknowledgments, address review, and district-office follow-up—are administrative and recurring when applicable, but LBB does not identify them as requiring new appropriations or creating a significant fiscal burden.

The bill does not increase the regulatory burden on individuals or businesses in the ordinary sense. It does not require private individuals or companies to obtain a license, pay a fee, comply with a new business regulation, or face a penalty. Property owners are asked to acknowledge receipt of notice, but the bill does not punish nonresponse or condition property rights on the acknowledgment. Any burden falls primarily on TxDOT, not on private citizens or market participants.

From a property-rights perspective, the bill provides a meaningful procedural safeguard. State highway projects can affect access, use, value, and future plans for adjoining property. Requiring more reliable notice and follow-up helps ensure that affected owners have a better opportunity to understand and respond to project developments or right-of-way actions. While the bill does not change eminent domain authority or compensation standards, it improves transparency in a context where state action may have significant consequences for landowners.

For these reasons, the bill’s modest expansion of agency process is outweighed by its property-notice protections and limited fiscal impact. Because the bill improves notice to affected property owners without creating a significant taxpayer burden or imposing a new regulatory burden on individuals or businesses, Texas Policy Research recommends a Vote Yes position.

• SB 2513 (Same As)