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

SPONSOR Laranaga

DATE TYPED 2/16/05

HB 674

SHORT TITLE Local Government Inspector Contracts

SB

ANALYST Hadwiger

APPROPRIATION

(in $000s)

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

No comments were received from the Regulation and Licensing Department at the time this

F.I.R. was prepared.

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 674 would allow the director of the Construction Industries Division (CID), as well as

municipalities and counties to contract for state inspectors. HB674 would also require inspectors

to hold a national inspection certification for the type of inspection services to be performed.

The national certification would suffice to demonstrate competency for the type of inspections.

Significant Issues

DFA indicated the New Mexico Home Builders Association supports HB674, because current

statute limits inspectors’ ability to conduct multiple and efficient inspections. Additionally, the

Association is concerned that current statute unnecessarily limits the number of inspectors, be-

cause the law has been interpreted as allowing only inspectors that are "employed" by a county

or municipality to conduct the inspections. HB674 would allow local governments to use con-

tract inspectors and would also a person who is certified in one or more specialty to inspect in

any or all of those specialties.

House Bill 674 -- Page 2

Two possible concerns were highlighted in the comments on HB674. First, according to DFA,

HB674 could potentially allow individuals who are not familiar with New Mexico’s building

codes to serve as inspectors. DFA indicated that CID is concerned that HB674 would reduce the

agency’s ability to resolve consumer complaints (about 600 per year) by removing CID from the

certification process.

ALTERNATIVES

DFA suggested one alternative might be to enact a less sweeping change by clarifying that local

governments may contract for inspectors.

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