Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance
committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports
if they are used for other purposes.
Current FIRs (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) are a vailable on the NM Legislative Website (legis.state.nm.us).
Adobe PDF versions include all attachments, whereas HTML versions may not. Previously issued FIRs and
attachments may be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.
F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Wirth
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1/25/2006
HB 378
SHORT TITLE Legal Services for Low-Income Persons
SB
ANALYST McOlash
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY06
FY07
$2,000.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Relates to SB 316
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 378 appropriates $2,000,000 from the General Fund to the Civil Legal Services Fund
for expenditure in FY 2007 and subsequent fiscal years to contract for legal assistance to low-
income persons.
At least $1,000,000 of the appropriation shall be for a single statewide legal services program
with at least five offices that already provides direct legal services to low-income persons (New
Mexico Legal Aid).
The remainder will be allocated by the Civil Legal Services Commission to other not-for-profit
legal services providers.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $2,000,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund
by reference to FY 2007 and “subsequent fiscal years.”
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2007 shall not revert.
pg_0002
House Bill 378 – Page 2
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
The AOC estimated that up to 80% of legal needs of low-income New Mexicans are unmet. Ex-
amples of unmet needs include uncollected child support, failures to dissolve abusive marriages,
and unnecessary evictions.
In the current funding cycle, the Commission had requests of $3.0 million from 16 legal services
providers and $1.4 million to allocate.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
HB 378 is related to SB 316 except that SB 316 does not make reference to “subsequent fiscal
years.”
BMC/mt:nt