[1] NOTE:  As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended only for use by the standing finance committees of the legislature.  The Legislative Finance Committee does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this report when used in any other situation.

 

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

 

 

 

SPONSOR:

Campos

 

DATE TYPED:

01/27/02

 

HB

 

 

SHORT TITLE:

Guadalupe Magistrate Court Appropriation

 

SB

109

 

 

ANALYST:

Hayes

 

APPROPRIATION

 

Appropriation Contained

Estimated Additional Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY02

FY03

FY02

FY03

 

 

 

$40.0

 

 

Recurring*

General Fund

 

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

 

*See Fiscal Implications below.

 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

 

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

LFC files

 

SUMMARY

 

     Synopsis of Bill

 

Senate Bill 109 appropriates $40.0 from the general fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) for the purpose of funding an additional court clerk position and related expenses at the Guadalupe magistrate district.

 

The effective date of this bill is fiscal year 2003.

 

     Significant Issues

 

In November 1998, the AOC completed a study to provide the Legislature with methodologies for determining the needs for additional judgeships and court clerks—the Weighted Caseload Study and the Workload Measurement Study.  Both are based on caseload per district and are updated annually.

 

The New Mexico Chief Judges Council reviews all district, metropolitan and magistrate court staffing requests for FY03.  Since the Workload Measurement Study did not support the need for such a position for the Guadalupe magistrate court, the council did not include the position in the judicial branch Unified Budget document.  (Refer to the attached “Staffing Detail Magistrate Courts” table for current workload measurement results.)  In summary, this court clerk position is not supported by the Unified Budget.

 

According to the AOC, the Guadalupe County magistrate courts in Santa Rosa and Vaughn currently have 2.5 clerks. The Weighted Caseload Study shows that these courts had 1,564 new case filings from 6/01/00 - 5/31/01 with a need of 1.8 clerks for this level of caseload.  Therefore, the Guadalupe magistrate courts actually exceeds the study reccommendation by .8 clerks.

 

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

 

Of the $40.0 appropriation contained in this bill, $33.0 is a recurring expense to the general fund and $7.0 is non-recurring.  Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY03 shall revert to the general fund.

 

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

 

1.  Since the Workload Measurement Study does not indicate a need for an additional court clerk in the Guadalupe magistrate district, why is the court requesting such a position?

 

CMH/njw:ar

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