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

SPONSOR Gardner

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/6/2006

HB 604

SHORT TITLE 9

th

Judicial District Senior Citizen Safety

SB

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$50.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Ninth Judicial District Attorney Office (DAO) – Clovis

Aging on Aging (AOA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 604 appropriates $50,000 from the General Fund to the Ninth Judicial District Attor-

ney’s Office for expenditure in FY 2007 to fund the Newman Project – a safety program for sen-

ior citizens.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund. .

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2007 shall revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Newman Project is named in honor of an elderly Portales couple who were murdered in

House Bill 604 - Page

2

March 2005. The Project is a proactive community response to concerns on the public safety of

the elderly. The funding would provide safety items in and around elders’ homes, including mo-

tion lights, peepholes, deadbolt locks, carbon monoxide monitors and so forth. Installation of

such items would be at no cost to elders. The Project would include outreach activities and edu-

cation on frauds, identify theft and other home-safety issues. Funding would also be directed to

a telephone reassurance program

.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

Much of the labor to install equipment has been volunteered by local contacting/construction

companies that will allow more funding to be used directly in the educational campaigns and the

direct materials.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The importance of the safety of the Senior Citizen community is a very important issue in the 9

th

Judicial District following the brutal murder of an elderly couple in Roosevelt County.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

Is this an issue for the Senior Citizen community in other judicial districts.

BMC/nt