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

SPONSOR Rawson

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/20/06

HB

SHORT TITLE NMSU Manufacturing & Engineering Center

SB 4

ANALYST Earp

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$650.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates House Bill 185

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

New Mexico State University (NMSU)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 4 appropriates $650,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of New Mex-

ico State University to provide technical assistance to businesses and entrepreneurs through the

Manufacturing Technology and Engineering Center (M-TEC.)

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $650,000 contained in this bill is indicated in the table above as a recurring

expense to the general fund; however, the NMSU analysis states that $460,000 of this amount is

intended to be used for non-recurring purchases of advanced manufacturing equipment. The ad-

ditional $190,000 would support the hiring of additional technical staff to meet an increasing

demand for services. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal

year 2007 shall revert to the general fund.

Senate Bill 4– Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Information submitted by NMSU indicates that this proposal is supported by the NMSU Board

of Regents. However, it was not submitted to the Higher Education Department (HED) for con-

sideration during the funding recommendation development process. Consequently, no recom-

mendation for this purpose is included in the higher education funding recommendations for fis-

cal year 2007.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

According to the NMSU analysis, approval of this funding would allow M-TEC to provide tech-

nical assistance to 50% additional businesses each year and would also improve the capability

for M-TEC to design and prototype state-of-the-art products for its clients. The availability of

this leading edge design and product development technology would be an advantage in attract-

ing new businesses and improving the competitiveness of existing high tech industries.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

NMSU reports that no additional administrative support will be required in the event funding for

this existing program is expanded.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

House Bill 185 and Senate Bill 4 are duplicate measures.

Funding provided through this bill would augment approximately $384,000 in recurring appro-

priations found in the General Appropriation Act for the Manufacturing Sector Development

Program.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

Are the Manufacturing Sector Development Program and the Manufacturing Technology and

Engineering Center distinct entities, or is NMSU changing the program name.

DE/mt