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

SPONSOR Hamilton

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/8/06

HB 606

SHORT TITLE WNMU Web-Based Criminal Justice Programs

SB

ANALYST Earp

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$375.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to House Bill 9

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 606 appropriates $375,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of Western

New Mexico University (WNMU) to establish and maintain a web-based criminal justice pro-

gram.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $375,000 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. These funds would augment a recurring General Appropriation Act appro-

priation to WNMU for “Instruction and General” purposes, which provides basic support for

academic program development and delivery.

House Bill 606 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

This proposal was not included among the special program funding requests submitted by

WNMU to the Higher Education Department (HED) for review. Consequently, this proposal has

not been included in the HED fiscal year 2007 funding recommendations to the Legislature.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

WNMU would administer the proposed appropriation. No significant impact is evident.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

This bill is generally related to House Bill 9 which appropriates funding for WNMU’s web-based

teacher licensure program.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

In addition to the appropriation contained in this bill, additional general fund resources would be

generated in future years through the higher education “I&G” funding formula based upon actual

student credit hour enrollments in the criminal justice program. No specific estimate of the fu-

ture formula impact of the program has been provided; however, this impact would be substan-

tial if the program is successful.

HED reports that the WNMU Criminal Justice Program offers students the opportunity to pre-

pare for careers in law enforcement and corrections. The program is also interdisciplinary by

studying the procedures and legal issues related to law enforcement and corrections, including

sociology, psychology, political science, management, social work and other subjects relevant to

an understanding of crime and the criminal justice system. The Criminal Justice programs at

WNMU are targeted to two specific markets:

•

Fort Bliss personnel, who have historically only been required to have Associates de-

grees, but are now required to get a bachelors degree.

•

Law enforcement personnel who have associates degrees and can also progress to a

bachelor’s.

The main focus for the WNMU online program will be the Fort Bliss market with an expected

cohort of twenty to fifty students annually.

ALTERNATIVES

If line-item funding is approved for this program, it should be provided on a start-up basis and

phased-out within two to three years as resources are generated through the I&G formula. Such

start-up funding could better be provided through the Program Development Fund established for

this purpose pursuant to Section 21-1-27.4 NMSA 1978.

DKE/nt