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

SPONSOR:	Martinez		DATE TYPED:	01/25/02		HB	222
SHORT TITLE:		Distribution to Tribal Police Departments				SB
					ANALYST:		Gilbert

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY02	FY03	FY02	FY03
	$.01 See Narrative		$.01 See Narrative	Recurring	Law Enforcement Protection Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue		Subsequent Years Impact	Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY02	FY03
	($.01) See Narrative	See Narrative	Recurring	General Fund
	($.01) See Narrative	See Narrative	Recurring	Law Enforcement Protection Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

Duplicates HB 239

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Responses Received

LFC Files

Department of Public Safety (DPS)

No Response

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 222 amends Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978 (laws of 1972, chapter 8, section 1, as amended) relating to law enforcement by increasing the annual rate of distribution from the law enforcement protection fund from $300 per commissioned peace officer to $600 per officer. Payments shall be made only to those divisions of the tribal police departments that perform services in New Mexico.

Significant Issues

Section 29-13-2 NMSA 1978, defines the purpose of the Law Enforcement Protection Fund is to provide for the equitable distribution of money to municipal police, university police, tribal police and county sheriff’s departments for use in the maintenance and improvement of those departments in order to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of law enforcement services.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

This bill will result in a 100% increase in the total payments from the law enforcement protection fund to tribal police departments for their commissioned peace officers per the provisions of Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978. No information was received from the Department of Finance and Administration regarding the total incremental impact to the law enforcement protection fund or if this bill will have any affect on local, state, or federal matching funds or appropriations. The Department of Public Safety (DPS) states that this bill will potentially decrease the amount of revenues generated by citations, which subsequently go to the general fund.

According to DPS audits, the law enforcement protection fund had $465.7 and $491.8 at years ending FY00 and FY01 respectively. Liabilities to the fund in the same amounts are listed as “Assets held for others.” Although the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) audits indicate the law enforcement protection fund had $4,936.6 and $4,802.6 at years ending FY00 and FY01 respectively (with liabilities to the fund in the same amounts listed as “due to local governments”), the law enforcement protection fund has made reversions to the general fund in the amounts of $367.7 and $339.5 in FY00 and FY01 respectively. Therefore, this bill could impact future reversions to the general fund.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

According to the DPS, the New Mexico State Police will not commission tribal officers from a tribal entity that cites non-Indian violators into tribal court or use civil citations for traffic violations. Further, passing this legislation could lend validity to tribal entities that stop non-Indian persons and cite them into tribal courts or issue civil citations that are paid directly to tribal governments.

RLG/ar

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