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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Youngsberg
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/8/06
HB 642
SHORT TITLE Latin American Institute Study Abroad Program
SB
ANALYST Earp
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY06
FY07
$60.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Relates to Senate Bill 582
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 642 appropriates $60,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of the Uni-
versity of New Mexico (UNM) to support the Latin American and Iberian Institute study abroad
program.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $60,000 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.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
This proposal was not included among the special program funding requests submitted by UNM
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.
pg_0002
House Bill 642 – Page
2
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
UNM would administer the funding provided through this legislation. No significant impact is
evident.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
This bill is related to Senate Bill 582 which would appropriate $200,000 to UNM for study
abroad programs.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
HED provided information indicating that UNM has 31 semester exchange agreements with uni-
versities in 10 Latin American countries. For semester exchanges, students should be at junior-
level, with at least 50-60 credit hours completed by the time they go abroad and have a 3.0 GPA.
Students should have a good control of the language, having taken five semesters (through 301
or 302) by the time they go abroad. For the short-term language programs, there are no require-
ments; non-UNM students can attend; students can be a freshman, or a beginner, and do not need
a 3.0 GPA to be accepted into the program.
DKE/nt