FISCAL NOTE TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 788

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: DECEMBER 27, 1996

      Assembly Bill No. 788 of 1996 assesses a surcharge of $25, in addition to all other penalties or fees against a person convicted of drunk or drugged driving or of refusing to submit to a chemical test to determine blood alcohol content. Surcharge revenues would be placed in the Alcohol Education, Rehabilitation and Enforcement Fund to establish a Spinal Cord and Head Injury Assistance Program. This program would pay the costs of acute care, rehabilitation, transitional living and certain equipment required by victims of drunk or drugged driving accidents with spinal cord and head injuries. Surcharge revenues are to be used only after other insurance benefits available to the victim have been exhausted.

      The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) states that it would incur a one-time cost of $6,500 to reprogram its Automated Traffic System data processing system to accommodate this new surcharge. In addition, municipalities would incur an unknown expense to track the surcharge.

      The AOC states that based on a 63.9 percent conviction rate, it could expect approximately 29,000 convictions with a potential annual revenue of about $725,000 for the program. The Office of Management and Budget adds that historically, the collection of surcharges falls far below the amount anticipated, and while the amount noted above would be the maximum amount that could be anticipated, the actual collections could be much less. Thus, the amount of revenue to be collected by the program is unknown.

      The Office of Legislative Services concurs.

This fiscal note has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67.