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

SPONSOR Silva

DATE TYPED 03/01/05 HB 1078/a HJC

SHORT TITLE Local Government Corrections Assessment Costs

SB

ANALYST McSherry

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue

Subsequent

Years Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

NFI

$906.8

$906.8 Recurring Bernalillo County

local government

corrections

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court (BCMC)

Department of Public Safety (DPS)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HJC Amendment

House Bill 1078, as amended by the House Judiciary Committee, would increase the correction

fee in a county with a metropolitan court from $10 to $20 dollars in addition to the bill original

increase in penalty assessments for misdemeanors in counties with metropolitan courts.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 1078 amends the “Penalty Assessment Misdemeanors—Additional Fees” NMSA

1978 to provide that a$20 dollar additional fee to the penalty assessment established for each

penalty assessment misdemeanor, previously assessed in counties without a metropolitan court,

would rather be assessed in all counties regardless of whether the county has a metropolitan

court. The Bill as amended would also increase the correction fee in a county with a metropoli-

tan court from $10 to $20 dollars.

House Bill 1078/aHJC -- Page 2

Significant Issues

Bernalillo is the only county in New Mexico with a metropolitan court.

The $20 dollar fee would be used to “help defray the costs of local government corrections.”

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court (BCMC) points out that a separate statute establishes a

$10 dollar corrections fee in counties with a Metropolitan Court, when a defendant, who has

gone through the Court process, is convicted of the offense (NMSA 1978, Section 35-6-1 D(1)).

According to AOC, if the goal of the proposed legislation is to make the penalty assessment con-

sistent with court collections of fees established in, 35-6-1, then the proposed language should

state: “in a county with a metropolitan court there shall be an assessment of $10.00 to help defray

the costs of local government corrections.”

AOC reports that an increase of $10 to the correction fee will result in people convicted in Ber-

nalillo County of MVD violations or misdemeanors or petty misdemeanors paying $14 more

than people convicted in magistrate courts.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

As a result of House Bill 1078, fees collected by BCMC would increase for local corrections.

Currently Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court is not assessing or collecting any penalty as-

sessment misdemeanor fees for local government corrections.

BCMC estimates $303.6 thousand would be collected in FY 06 should the misdemeanor penalty

fee be assessed at $10 dollars. Accordingly, it is estimated that revenues from the fee assessed at

$20 dollars would be twice as much resulting in $606.2 thousand collected.

AOC estimates that an increase of $10 to the corrections fee in Bernalillo County would generate

approximately $303.6 each year.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The enactment of HB 1078 may result in minimal increased administrative workload for collec-

tion and tracking of collected fees.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

AOC suggests that if the goal of the bill is to make the penalty assessment consistent with court

collections of fees established in 35-6-1, then the language should state: “in a county with a met-

ropolitan court there shall be an assessment of $10.00 to help defray the costs of local govern-

ment corrections.”

BCMC suggests that if the Bill intends to impact the amount of the fee collected when cited

drivers are convicted in Court of a misdemeanor, then the issue should be clarified in NMSA

1978, Section 35-6-1 D(1). The Court suggests clarifying whether the intended amendment only

applies to those cited drivers who elect to pay their traffic tickets, rather than those drivers taking

House Bill 1078/aHJC -- Page 3

their citation to Court.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL.

BCMC will not collect misdemeanor fees for local government corrections. The corrections fee

in metropolitan court’s will remain $10 dollars.

EM/rs