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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR HAGC
DATE TYPED 3/9/05
HB 1134/HAGCS
SHORT TITLE Public Peace, Health, Safety and Welfare
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
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
In the HAGC substitute for HB1134, the chile and pinto bean would no longer be statutorily the
official state vegetables. Instead, the chile would be made the official state fruit and pinto bean
would be made the official state legume. Additionally, the bill would make the hot air balloon
the official state aircraft.
Significant Issues
Horticulturists classify the chile pepper as a fruit. Botanists classify it as a berry. The general
public tends to consider the green chile a vegetable and red chile a spice. Chile peppers are part
of the nightshade family, related to tomatoes, potatoes and eggplants but not to black pepper.
However, when Columbus first arrived in the New World, he believed he had arrived in the
Spice Islands in the East Indies. Therefore, he called the natives “Indians” and the chile “pep-
per,” thinking it was black pepper.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
There would be minimal fiscal impact to update state documents (particularly the New Mexico
Blue Book) to reflect the new state fruit, legume and aircraft.