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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Leavell
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1/25/06
2/2/06 HB
SHORT TITLE Soil & Water Conservation Districts
SB 33
ANALYST Earp
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY06
FY07
$550.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Relates to Senate Bill 30
Duplicates House Bill 562.
Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Higher Education Department (HED)
Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD)
Office of the State Engineer Interstate Stream Commission (OSE/ISC)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 33 appropriates $550,000 to the Board of Regents of New Mexico State University to
be distributed by the Soil and Water Conservation Commission for management of soil and wa-
ter conservation districts and operation of district programs and projects pursuant to Section 73-
20-25 through 48, NMSA 1978.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $550,000 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.
pg_0002
Senate Bill 33 – Page
2
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
This proposal was not submitted to the Higher Education Department by the Board of Regents of
NMSU as a priority request for fiscal year 2007 funding. Therefore, it was not reviewed for pos-
sible inclusion in the HED funding recommendation.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
Although not specifically mentioned in the bill, the New Mexico Department of Agriculture
(NMDA) provides support to the state’s soil and water conservation districts and would likely
administer this appropriation to the Board of Regents of NMSU.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
This bill is related to Senate Bill 30 which appropriates $500,000 for soil and water conservation
districts to match federal water conservation funds.
This bill is a duplicate of House Bill 562.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The Soil and Water Conservation Commission is a seven member commission appointed by the
Governor, but currently has no dedicated staff and no mechanism for receiving or distributing
funds. Staffing for the commission is provided by New Mexico Department of Agriculture
(NMDA). Fiscal management, oversight and accountability functions are conducted by NMDA
and New Mexico State University. The Soil and Water Conservation District Act (73-20-25
through 73-20-48 NMSA 1978) states that the Soil and Water Conservation Commission may
advise NMDA and the NMSU Board of Regents on any matter affecting soil and water conserva-
tion.
The state’s 47 soil and water conservation districts control and prevent erosion, prevent sediment
damage after floods, encourage water conservation, as well as conduct forest health and fuel re-
duction thinning projects around communities that are at risk from wildland fire in New Mexico.
NMDA reports that the Soil and Water Conservation District Act (Sections 73-20-25 through 48
NMSA 1978) was amended in 2003. New provisions related to district elections require the dis-
tricts to incur additional costs in order to provide greater access to voters, but no provision was
made to increase funding. Soil and water conservation district budgets have been static for sev-
eral years.
The Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department notes that since 2001, it has provided
funds to some of the soil and water conservation districts to improve forest health, conduct
community wildfire protection planning and hazardous fuel reduction thinning projects around
communities and individual homes to reduce local fire danger.
DE/mt