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

SPONSOR Arnold-Jones

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/8/06

HB 680

SHORT TITLE UNM Post-Doctoral Toxicology Program

SB

ANALYST Lewis

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

FY06

FY07

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

100.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 680 appropriates $100,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of the Uni-

versity of New Mexico for a post-doctoral fellowship program in clinical toxicology.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $100,000 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

According to the Higher Education Department (HED), the New Mexico Poison and Drug In-

formation Center offers a two-year fellowship in clinical toxicology. The goal of the fellowship

is to increase new knowledge in clinical toxicology by providing motivated, pharmacy scholars

with personalized post-doctoral research, administrative, and clinical training. The program is

also designed to impart candidates with skills, knowledge and abilities necessary to function as a

clinical toxicologist within a poison center or emergency department. The fellowship offers a

base stipend of $37,500 for the first year and $39,500 for second year. Funding from this bill

would support the Center’s fellowship program.

House Bill 680 – Page

2

HED adds that the Poison and Drug Information Center is a public service program of the UNM

Health Sciences Center and is affiliated with the UNM College of Pharmacy. The Center’s goals

are to eliminate unintentional poisonings, minimize inappropriate home therapy and reduce the

incidence of unnecessary health care system utilization and expenditures. The Center coordinates

poison prevention throughout the state and operates New Mexico's only computerized toxico-

surveillance system. The Center is certified as a Regional Poison Center by the American Asso-

ciation of Poison Control Centers.

This request was not on the list of priority projects submitted by UNM to the HED for review

and was not included in the HED’s funding recommendation for FY07.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

According to HED,

consequences may include limited clinical training to pharmacy scholars and

fewer clinical toxicologists available to work within poison centers and emergency departments.

ML/nt