[1]NOTE:
As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended only for use by the
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|
SPONSOR: |
Griego |
DATE TYPED: |
01/28/02 |
HB |
|
||
|
SHORT TITLE: |
Records Center Revolving Fund |
SB |
290 |
||||
|
|
ANALYST: |
Gonzales |
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APPROPRIATION
|
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
||
|
FY02 |
FY03 |
FY02 |
FY03 |
|
|
|
* |
* |
$25.0 |
$44.0 |
Recurring |
Other State Funds |
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
*This
bill transfers money in the existing special revolving fund to the newly
created state records revolving fund.
The
additional impact reflects the revenue now
being collected from the direct publication by the agency of the New
Mexico Register (these fees are authorized
by statute but had, prior to August 2001, been paid to a third-party
publisher.
Relates
to Appropriation in The General Appropriation Acts: HB2 and SB1
Duplicates
HB 43
REVENUE
|
Estimated Revenue |
Subsequent Years
Impact |
Recurring or Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
|
|
FY02 |
FY03 |
|
|
|
|
$25.0* |
$44.0* |
$44.0 |
Recurring |
Other State Funds |
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate
Revenue Decreases)
*The
revenue noted is as of August 2001 being earned by the agency from the in-house
publication of the New Mexico
Register.
The fees generated are already authorized in statute and defined in
rule, but prior to August 2001, paid
directly to a third party publisher.
LFC Files
State Commission of Public Records
SUMMARY
Synopsis
of Bill
Senate Bill 290 amends Section 14-3-19 NMSA 1978
of the Public Records Act to delete reference to a “special revolving
fund” established by Laws 1961, Chapter 111 and instead creates the “records
center revolving fund” allowing the deposit of revenue generated under the
Public Records and State Rules Acts into the fund. This bill also transfers funds from the current revolving fund
(currently used as part of the agency’s operating budget) into the new
revolving fund. Additionally, the bill
makes a minor change to “clean-up” language in the act. This bill contains an emergency clause.
Significant Issues
The technological advances that have occurred in
the past five years have made new services and delivery methods possible in
providing access to the State's public records. In order to accommodate some of those changes, it is necessary to
slightly modify the language of the Public Records Act that creates the State
Records Center's revolving fund. It
also provides the legislature with the opportunity to clean up language that should
not have been compiled, to correct references to the Commission of Public
Records (Commission).
Section 14-3-19 1978 created a nonreverting
special revolving fund with which the Commission may purchase for resale items
such as storage boxes, forms, microfilm supplies and other supplies and
materials necessary to facilitate the various aspects of its programs. This fund was created to allow the agency to
retain fund balances to make capital purchases in subsequent years.
The Commission of Public Records is statutorily
obligated to ensure the production of the New
Mexico Register (Register) and the New
Mexico Administrative Code (NMAC). Section 14-4-7.1 NMSA 1978, requires the Register to be published at least twice
a month and Section 14-4-7.2 NMSA 1978, requires that the NMAC must be compiled and updated at least once a year. The Commission of Public Records recently
took over the publication of the Register
and the Compilation of NMAC. In the past, both the New Mexico Register and NMAC
were produced by an outside publisher who collected fees for access to these
documents. Because it is no longer
possible to maintain the arrangement with the publisher, it is necessary for
the Commission of Public Records to produce those documents in-house. With in-house production, the delivery time
of the printed Register is expected
to improve, and for the first time, allow the public to access the Register free online. This online presentation is expected to ease
the use of NMAC.
The change in language allows the agency to
deposit revenue collected pursuant to the State Rules Act (e.g. state agencies
publishing notices and adopted rules and subscriptions to print versions of the Register in the Records Center
Revolving Fund.) This revenue will be
budgeted to support one FTE and other costs related to producing the New Mexico Register and NMAC.
HB 2 and SB 1, the LFC recommendations, include
appropriations to the Commission of Public Records of projected revenues of
$105.2 and cash balance fund of $26.7 to support expenditures from the
revolving fund and to purchase supplies from its regular operating budget and
$44.0 from revenues expected to be collected due to the production and
publication of the Register and the NMAC
that fund an FTE to act as editor of the Register and compiler of the NMAC.
The in house production will improve the delivery time of the printed Register and, for the first time, make
the Register and the NMAC available free online. The online version will greatly increase the
public’s access to the Register and
the NMAC and thereby improve the ease
of its use.
The Commission of Public Records states that
both HB 2 and SB 1 contain performance measures that would be adversely
impacted should the legislation fail.
The number of days to make filed rules available on line carries a
standard of 60 days. The agency states
the following issues in its analysis of this bill “Our experience with the
previous private sector publisher was that current rules were not available for
nearly 110 days for both the online or CD versions in FY 2001. The performance measure, "percent of
annual strategic plan items achieved on schedule" would be also be
impacted. The 2003 strategic priorities
include action items to "Provide on-line access to SRCA collections"
and "Create a system of ready access to information on proposed rule
making, adopted rules and the current rules of the Executive that is freely
accessible to all New Mexicans."
When developed, these action items targeted moving the Register and NMAC from publications available only by subscriptions to
free on-line publications. Failure of
this legislation would require third-party publication and paid or limited
access to the publications and a return to delayed availability of current
rules on-line.
The Department of Finance has opined that
current language in the revolving fund does not allow budgeting of revenue
collected from Register
activities. Failure of this bill will
impede the agencies ability to budget revenue and expenditures necessary to
produce the statutorily mandated publications.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
This bill would allow the agency to collect and
use the revenues generated by the production and publication of the Register and NMAC for these same purposes.
State agencies have paid for publishing their notices of rule-making and
adopted rules since the enactment of the New
Mexico Register provision of the State Rules Act. Those payments went to a private publisher and now are made
directly to the Commission of Public Records. Rates remain the same as those established under the private
sector publisher and are included in the appropriation for the agency as
offsetting expenditures and revenue. There
is no increased fiscal impact to the State.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
The agency states the sudden termination of the
contract to publish the New Mexico
Register and New Mexico
Administrative Code forced the agency to explore other alternatives. With the technology now available, the
agency was able to assume publication of the New Mexico Register and the NMAC
and used current resources to fund a term position (FY 2002 only) to act as
Editor and Compiler. These resources
were originally budgeted for expenditures supporting records and archives
revolving fund activities. Those
activities were deferred to accommodate the funding of the position so that the
Commission could continue to carry out its duties under the State Rules Act.
RELATIONSHIP
HB 2 and SB 1 include appropriations to the
Commission of Public Records that fund an FTE to act as editor of the Register and compiler of the NMAC.
This bill is necessary to support the recommendation made by the LFC for
this agency and the use of these funds.
[1]Begin typing on the * in replace mode. Do not add or delete spaces.