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 for
other purposes.
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SPONSOR: |
Taylor, J. P. |
DATE TYPED: |
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HB |
740 |
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SHORT TITLE: |
NM Nursing Education |
SB |
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ANALYST: |
Williams |
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APPROPRIATION
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
||
FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
|
|
|
$919.0 |
|
|
Recurring |
General
Fund |
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|
|
|
|
|
(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Relates to
HB 255: WNMU Nursing
HB 376:
Nursing Excellence Program
HB 385/SB460:
San Juan Nursing
HB 476:
UNM Nursing
HB 550:
Statewide Nursing Facility Staff Support
SB 94:
NMSU Nursing
SB 186:
Nurse Licensure Compact
SB 458:
Expand
LFC
Files
Health
Policy Commission
Commission
on Higher Education (CHE)
Department
of Health (DOH)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 740 appropriates $919.0 from the
General Fund to the Board of Regents at
·
$500.0
to increase admissions and support for the Bachelor of Science and Master of
Science degree programs in nursing
·
$419.0
to maintain nursing faculty salaries
Significant
Issues
In 2002, the Nursing Shortage Statewide
Strategic Summit of the Commission on Higher Education and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center noted the importance of
expanding nursing education program by increasing faculty and enhancing faculty
retention through salary adjustments.
Specifically, the
FISCAL
IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $919.0 contained in this
bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance
remaining at the end of FY 2004 would revert to the General Fund.
For FY04, NMSU requested an additional $500.0
nursing expansion and ranked the proposal 9th of 14 new or expansion
research and public service projects submitted to CHE by NMSU.
According to the LFC
budget document, over the past couple of years, the Legislature has appropriated
funds to institutions to address statewide nursing workforce needs. The Legislature appropriated a total of
$2,569.8 in FY03 to provide market salary adjustments for nursing faculty,
convert nursing faculty from a nine-month contract to a 12-month contract, and
expand nursing student enrollments for two-year and four-year institutions,
other than the University of New Mexico.
NMSU received $419.2, of which 85 percent was allocated to provide
market salary adjustment for nursing faculty and 15 percent was allocated to
expand nursing student enrollment. NMSU
Alamogordo received $27.9, with 71.4 percent allocated to provide market salary
adjustments for nursing faculty and 28.6 percent allocated to expand nursing
student enrollment. NMSU Carlsbad
received $34.9 for market salary adjustment for nursing faculty. Finally, NMSU Dona Ana received $104.8,
equally split between market salary adjustments for nursing faculty and
expansion of nursing student enrollment.
For
those institutions that did not use the funds appropriated in FY03 to expand
nursing student enrollments, the LFC recommended institutions expand nursing
enrollment in FY04. The LFC budget
recommendation for FY04 includes $419.2 for NMSU nursing expansion, $27.9 for
NMSU Alamogordo nursing expansion, $34.9 for NMSU Carlsbad nursing expansion
and $104.8 for NMSU Dona Ana nursing expansion.
OTHER
SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
In their analysis, NMSU, Health Policy
Commission and DOH note the national and state nursing shortage, and NMSU notes
partnership efforts between the Main and branch campuses to address career
development and retention in “rural/frontier communities”. Further, NMSU discusses a new distance
education methodology for the nursing program initiated with federal grant
funds, which will require additional future funding “to allow progression of admitted
nursing students and to cover costs for the program after (federal) funding
ends.”
As a result of the appropriation, NMSU notes
annual enrollment in the four-year Bachelor of Science nursing program would
increase from 32 to 48 students per semester, with completion program
enrollments increasing to 40 per year in 2004 and 48 per year in 2005.
NMSU also notes the appropriation would maintain
nursing faculty salaries at the 50th percentile of its peers and
permit hiring of additional faculty.
CHE notes it did not recommend additional
nursing expansion requests in FY04, but instead recommended the revised
education funding formula. The Plus
Incentives component of the new formula includes establishment of the Program
Development Enhancement Fund. For this
fund, the CHE recommended initial funding of $3 million, while the LFC
recommendation includes $1.5 million of general fund and $1.0 million of
federal funds in the form of temporary assistance for needy families block
grant.
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS