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

SPONSOR Vigil

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/9/06

HB 773

SHORT TITLE Luna Community College Nursing Program

SB

ANALYST Earp

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$20.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Health (DOH)

Health Policy Commission (HPC)

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 773 appropriates $20,000 from the General Fund to the Higher Education Department

(HED) to provide funding for the student nursing program at Luna Community College (LCC) to

enable student nurses to travel to hospitals throughout the state for the observation of hospital

practices.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $20,000 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 request was not on the list of priority projects submitted by LCC to the Higher Education

House Bill 773 – Page

2

Department (HED) for review and was not included in the department’s funding recommenda-

tion for fiscal year 2007.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

HED would receive the appropriation and then transfer it to LCC which would be responsible for

the administering the nursing student travel program. See Technical Issues below.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

This appropriation could be made directly to LCC, which would eliminate the necessity of rout-

ing the funds through HED.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

HED reports that LCC offers an Associate of Applied Science Degree program, with an exit op-

tion for Practical Nursing after completion of the first year of nursing. The nursing department

prepares and trains nurses to provide culturally competent, community-based entry level nursing

care. The nursing program is approved by the New Mexico Board of Nursing.

First level nursing students complete their clinical experiences locally at the regional hospital or

the New Mexico State Hospital in Las Vegas. Second level students are required to get their

clinical experience in specialty areas that are not available in Las Vegas and, therefore, must

travel to Albuquerque and Santa Fe for their clinical. Clinical experiences often require a student

to work the night shift in hospitals and work 10-12 hour shifts at hospitals in Albuquerque, Santa

Fe and Taos. This proposal will impact 63 first level students and 43 second level students at-

tending the LCC Nursing Program. The funds will be used to support students to pay their travel

and lodging expenses when their clinical experiences require them to travel outside of Las Ve-

gas. The Nursing Program director coordinates the clinical experiences for the students and pairs

them up to share a hotel room to cut travel expenses for the students.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

How do other institutions, especially those in smaller communities, deal with the issue of travel

relating to required clinical experiences.

DKE/mt