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

SPONSOR:	Lyons		DATE TYPED:	02/01/02		HB
SHORT TITLE:		H Class County Commissioner Elections				SB	157
					ANALYST:		Woodlee

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY02	FY03	FY02	FY03
NFI	NFI	NFI	NFI	NFI	NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Secretary of State

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 157 amends Section 4-38-2 NMSA 1978 to allow the board of county commissioners to consist of either three or five qualified electors. In addition, the bill provides that for a three-member board, two members will constitute a quorum. For a five-member board, three members will constitute a quorum. The bill also adds the following provisions if a Class H county or a county having a population of thirteen thousand or fewer chooses to divide the county into single-member districts:

Districts shall be as equal in population as possible and numbered respectively to correspond to the number of board members;
A Commissioner must be a resident of the district from which he or she is elected;
If a Commissioner permanently removes his or her residence from or maintains no residence in the district from which they were elected, they shall be deemed to have resigned;
The division of the county into single-member districts must be made immediately following each federal decennial census.

Additionally, the bill provides that the board of county commissioners in a county with only three board members may require that either commissioners be elected from each district by the voters of the whole county or each commissioner be elected by the voter of the district from which that commissioner is running for office. The bill does not require Class H counties or counties with a population fewer than thirteen thousand to divide into single-member districts.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

There is no appropriation or significant fiscal implication associated with this bill.

MW/njw