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

SPONSOR Miera

DATE TYPED 02/02/05 HB 133

SHORT TITLE Increase Motorcycle Registration Fees

SB

ANALYST Padilla-Jackson

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

$75.0

Recurring Motorcycle

Training Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue

Subsequent

Years Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

$75.0

Similar Recurring

Motorcycle

Training Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD)

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

Department of Transportation (DOT)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 133 increases annual motorcycle registration fees and distributions to the Motorcycle

Training Fund. The bill proposes to increase registration fees from $15.00 to $18.00 for motor-

cycles having more than two wheels in contact with the ground or having a sidecar. The bill also

proposes to use the additional $3.00 collected to increase the distribution to the Motorcycle

Training Fund by increasing the distribution from $2.00 to $5.00 of each motorcycle registration

fee collected.

House Bill 133 -- Page 2

The effective date of the provisions of this bill is July 1, 2005.

Significant Issues

DOT is responsible for administering the New Mexico Motorcycle Safety Program, which

provides training courses and public awareness. The level of current funding, which consists of

the $2.00 fee for every motorcycle registration, is reportedly insufficient to meet the

department’s program responsibilities. Therefore, according to DOT, the road fund has been

utilized to supplement the Motorcycle Safety Fund and to help the Department meet

requirements for motorcycle training and public awareness.

DFA notes that this motorcycle registration fee increase would be the second and would consti-

tute a 40 percent increase in three years.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

According to DOT, the passage of the bill would result in additional resources to increase motor-

cycle training and public awareness. This would likely have a positive impact on the depart-

ment’s performance goals, which are largely related to reducing crashes and traffic fatalities.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

According to TRD, the Motor Vehicle Department processed approximately 25,000 motorcycle

registrations in FY04. Assuming a similar rate in FY06, TRD expects the fee increase to gener-

ate $75 thousand to the Motorcycle Training Fund (25,000 x $3.00 fee increase). Both DFA and

DOT provided slightly higher annual fiscal impact estimates, which ranged from $105 thousand

to $134 thousand.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

TRD anticipates the administrative costs to be minimal, including one-time costs for modifying

forms, systems, and financial reporting.

OPJ/sb