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

SPONSOR Lopez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/01/06

2/13/06 HB

SHORT TITLE

NM Poison & Drug Info Center Staffing

SB 162

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$112.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico Higher Education Department (NMHED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 162, NM Poison & Drug Info Center Staffing , appropriates $112.o from the General

Fund to the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico (UNM) to fund increased salary

costs for pharmacists and staff in the New Mexico poison and drug information center.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $112 thousand 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

The NMHED indicates that the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center is a twenty-

four hour emergency telephone service accessible to all citizens of New Mexico. The Center as-

sesses and makes treatment recommendations during possible poisonings, responds to drug in-

formation inquiries, and assists emergency personnel during hazardous material incidents. It also

Senate Bill 162 – Page 2

serves as a major teaching site for UNM's Department of Emergency Medicine. The Center op-

erates New Mexico's only toxicosurveillance system.

There were 42,171 calls last year to the NM Poison Center. The New Mexico Poison and Drug

Information Center is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of poisoning in New Mex-

ico. The Center is available to the public and health care professionals 24-hours a day, 7-days a

week. One of the goals is to help train pharmacists to be drug information providers.

NMHED points out that this proposal was not in the list of priority projects submitted by Univer-

sity of New Mexico to the Higher Education Department for review and, this request was not

included in NMHED’s funding recommendation for FY07.

GM/mt