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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Rodella

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/29/07

1/30/07 HB 469/aHJC

SHORT TITLE Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty Division Duties

SB

ANALYST Ortiz

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$500.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

No Responses Received From

Attorney General’s Office (AGO)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill of HJC Amendment

House Judiciary Committee amendment to HB 469 strikes the word “federal" from page 2, line 3

and refers the bill to House Appropriations and Finance Committee.

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 469, Relating to the Attorney General;

Prescribing Duties of the Guadalupe Hidalgo

Treaty Division; Making an Appropriation’ Declaring an Emergency

appropriates $500 thousand from

the GENERAL FUND to the Attorney General’s Office for the purpose of funding the operation

of the Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty division.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $500.0 thousand contained in this bill is a RECURRING expense to the

GENERAL FUND. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FISCAL

YEAR 2008 shall revert to the GENERAL FUND.

House Bill 469/aHJC – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Attorney General’s FY08 budget request notes that additional funding is needed because of

the effects of recent statutory amendments, which recognize community land grants as political

subdivisions of the State of New Mexico. These statutory changes created legal complexities

and conflicts for community land grants, local governments, and the state and federal

governments. The AGO FY08 budget indicated that it would travel to interim land grant

meetings, to consult with Land Grant Boards, heirs, Land Grant experts, and congressional

members concerning proposed solutions to historic land grant disputes over full recognition of

property rights.

House Bill 469 requires that the AGO prepare and present to the legislature recommendations for

federal legislation or litigation necessary to address the issues identified pursuant to paragraph

(1) of this subsection that the attorney general finds have not been adequately addressed or

resolved by the federal government.

EO/csd:mt