According to the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), HB 983 is not expected to have a significant fiscal impact on state government. The fiscal note states that any costs associated with implementing the bill could be absorbed using the Texas Education Agency's existing resources, indicating that no additional appropriations or staffing are anticipated to implement the new confidentiality requirements.

The fiscal note also concludes that no significant fiscal implication is anticipated for units of local government. Because the bill applies specifically to information maintained by the Texas Education Agency, the LBB does not expect local governments to incur meaningful implementation costs or realize any fiscal savings as a result of the legislation.

HB 983 provides targeted privacy protections for Texas educators by making specified personal information maintained by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) confidential and exempt from public disclosure. The legislation addresses a gap in current law that can allow sensitive personal information about educators who are not TEA employees to be released through public information requests, while leaving public access to professional and licensing information unchanged.

The bill does not meaningfully expand the size or scope of government. It does not create a new program, establish a new governmental entity, increase agency rulemaking authority, or require additional administrative oversight. Instead, it makes a narrow statutory change to existing public information law by adding a new confidentiality provision governing records already maintained by TEA.

Likewise, the bill does not increase the burden on taxpayers. The LBB determined that there would be no significant fiscal implication to the state, with any implementation costs expected to be absorbed using existing agency resources. The LBB also found no significant fiscal impact on local governments, indicating that the measure does not create new spending obligations or long-term fiscal commitments.

Finally, the bill does not impose a meaningful new regulatory burden on individuals or businesses. It creates no new licensing requirements, reporting mandates, compliance obligations, or penalties. Its only substantive effect is to limit the public release of specified personal information held by TEA, strengthening educator privacy without expanding regulatory authority over the private sector. Taken together, the bill advances a legitimate privacy interest through a limited change in law while avoiding government growth, taxpayer costs, and additional regulatory burdens. As such, Texas Policy Research recommends that lawmakers vote YES on HB 983.

• Individual Liberty: The bill strengthens individual privacy by protecting educators' sensitive personal information from public disclosure. By limiting the release of home addresses, personal contact information, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and family information maintained by TEA, it reduces the risk of harassment, identity theft, and threats to personal safety without restricting individual freedoms.
• Personal Responsibility: The bill neither expands nor diminishes personal responsibility. It does not alter individual decision-making, create new benefits or subsidies, or shift responsibilities between individuals and the state. It simply changes how TEA handles confidential information.
• Free Enterprise: The bill has no meaningful effect on private markets, businesses, competition, or economic activity. It imposes no new compliance requirements on private employers or commercial entities and does not regulate business practices.
• Private Property Rights: The bill does not affect ownership, use, or regulation of real or personal property. It neither expands nor restricts private property rights or governmental authority over private assets.
• Limited Government: The bill makes a narrow amendment to existing public information law without creating a new government program, agency, regulatory authority, or significant administrative function. It enhances privacy protections while avoiding government growth, new taxpayer obligations, or additional regulatory burdens. Although it expands one category of confidential records, it does so through a limited statutory change rather than an expansion of governmental power or bureaucracy.