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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR McCoy
DATE TYPED 2/25/05
HB 845
SHORT TITLE Official State Cookbook
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
Cultural Affairs Department (CAD)
Secretary of State (SOS)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 845 would adopt “Simply Simpatico” as the official state cookbook of New Mexico.
Significant Issues
“Simply Simpatico,” published by the Junior League of Albuquerque, is one of hundreds of
cookbooks dedicated to New Mexico recipes and cuisine. The book was first printed (and copy-
righted) in 1981 and has enjoyed at least five subsequent print runs. Using recipes from a wide
variety of Albuquerque and New Mexico residents, “Simply Simpatico” is a popular cookbook,
attempting to represent the entire state and dedicated to “authentic tastes” and “old family favor-
ites.” The book includes recipes from Indian, Mexican, Spanish, and Anglo traditions, according
to promotional materials.
The central issue associated with this bill relates to the appropriateness of choosing one New
Mexico cuisine cookbook, among the numerous possibilities, for official state designation. No
matter the quality or popularity of “Simply Simpatico,” there may be many critics of this very
subjective interpretation and decision (i.e. is this particular cookbook “wholly” representative of
New Mexico’s cultures and cuisines. Does it include African-American or Asian-American tra-