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

SPONSOR Irwin

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/23/06

HB 94

SHORT TITLE NMSU Southwest & Border Regions Program

SB

ANALYST Earp

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$200.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Senate Bill 263

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

New Mexico State University (NMSU)

Department of Health (DOH)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 94 appropriates $200,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of New

Mexico State University (NMSU) to support the Southwest and Border Regions Health, Educa-

tion, Culture and Development Research Program.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $200,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2007 shall revert

to the general fund.

NMSU indicates that this funding would be utilized to help support undergraduate and graduate

student involvement and to provide for effective coordination of interested institutions, agencies

and organizations from around the state and region.

House Bill 94 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Information submitted by the Higher Education Department (HED) and NMSU indicates that the

Southwest and Border Regions Health, Education, Culture and Development Research Program

is designed to conduct research on the United States/Mexico border. The intention of the pro-

gram is to understand the key needs of culturally diverse populations on both sides of the border.

To facilitate this research, the program has been divided into clusters (health, education, culture

and development) to explore why the social and economic disparities persist along the United

States/Mexico border. The cluster model is intended to attract funding from state, federal and

private programs. The program will document needs, develop programs to address them, and

evaluate program success. Some issues that could be examined through the program include

health care, immigration, homeland security, pollution, drug trafficking, and trade.

This program was endorsed by the NMSU Board of Regents and submitted to HED for review.

However, HED did not recommend funding to the LFC and Executive branch, and funding for

this purpose is not included in those agency recommendations to the Legislature.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

NMSU would bear the administrative responsibility for managing the research program proposed

in this legislation.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

House Bill 94 and Senate Bill 263 are duplicate measures.

DE/yr